The weather was dry and Iowa farmers were able to get a lot of seed into the ground this past week.
The U.S.D.A. crop report says there were six-and-a-half days suitable for fieldwork last week, the longest stretch so far this spring. Corn planting moved from 42% to 72% complete and is now even with last year, and ahead of the 5-year average by nine percent. Soybean planting also pulled even with last year, at 60% planted. That’s now 12% above the 5-year average.
The report shows 19% of the corn has already emerged, and 7% of the beans have popped out of the ground.