The latest U.S.D.A. report on Iowa crops shows at least five percent of the corn and eight percent of the state’s soybeans were harvested by Sunday night. Harvest progress has been slow, though, because of above average rainfall in much of the state last week.
Dennis Bogaards , who farms near Pella, says while this year’s weather has been “a roller coaster,” he is pleased with his per acre tallies so far.
“Soybeans look to be mid-60s to upper-70s,” Bogaards says. “It just kind of depends on the field and we took out some 105-day corn the other day that went 238.”
In August, the U.S.D.A. predicted U.S. corn yields would average an all-time record of 178 bushels per acre. The prediction for Iowa was the same as last year — just over 200 bushels per acre. And that’s what Bogaards is predicting for the Pella area.
“Looks like yields, overall, are going to be as good as we’ve seen in the last three years or comparable to what we’ve seen over the last three years around here,” Bogaards says.
The latest U.S.D.A. report for Iowa indicates nearly three-quarters of Iowa corn is rated in good to excellent condition, with maturity about a week ahead of average.
(Additional reporting by Ken Anderson of Brownfield Ag News)