Due to the cold and what ended up being Iowa’s wettest spring on record, many feared the state wouldn’t have much of a sweet corn crop this year. Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey says farmers wrapped up their planting weeks behind schedule but time has proven, it was better late than never for sweet corn.
“Certainly, like the crop in the field now, it was late,” Northey says. “About two weeks ago, we started seeing some sweet corn show up and it’s coming really fast in some places.” While some sweet corn growers tried to play the odds and outsmart Mother Nature, the secretary says the modified growing season didn’t go quite according to plan.
“Some are nervous,” Northey says. “They’ll string out their planting of sweet corn to make sure to have some and have a long season but that cold, wet weather in the spring kind of pushed those all together.” There’s usually Iowa sweet corn by the 4th of July, but not this year. Northey says the crop may have been delayed, but it’s now proving to be a delicious August treat.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City