Hot and humid weather last week aided the development of most of Iowa’s crops. The U.S. Department of Agriculture rates 83 percent of Iowa’s corn and 77 percent of the state’s soybeans in good-to-excellent condition.
Some farmers in southern Iowa have lost crop acres due to persistent heavy rains and damaging storms. Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Aaron Saeugling monitors 14 counties in southwest Iowa. He says crops that were planted early look good.
“But there are parts of southwest Iowa that still have not planted anything,” Saeugling said. “Those will be ‘prevent plant acres.'” Two inches or more of rain fell across parts of southern Iowa between late last Wednesday and Friday.
“Those guys still continue to struggle to even plant some cover crops in those areas. They continue to get rain. It’s really unfortunate in a lot of those areas,” Saeugling said. Last week, Governor Branstad issued disaster emergency proclamations for Jefferson and Wayne Counties. That cleared the way for the use of state resources to aid in the recovery from damage caused by severe storms and flooding in those two counties.
Monday’s U.S.D.A. crop report indicates over half of the state’s corn crop had reached the silking stage last week, while 15 percent of soybeans were setting pods.