Southeast Iowa Crop Conditions

Crops in Northwest Iowa are quickly moving toward maturity. Both crops are starting to turn to fall colors and soybeans are dropping leaves. A rather wet August and early September looks like it may be coming to an end at the right time. The next week looks warm and windy, which will help dry out the ground andpush crops along even faster.

Most corn fields are starting to change color and roughly 1/4 of the crop has reach physiological maturity(black layer). Now we will wait as the kernels dry down from 33% moisture down to normal harvest moisture below 20%. The weather forecast will likely push that along much faster than normal. Yields look like they will be as good as last year in most areas except small places where flooding/ponding was and issue this summer.

Early maturing soybean fields are coming along fast. There are some fields that may be ready for harvest by the weekend. The above average moisture this year has added disease stress in some poorly drained areas, which will make yields variable. Overall the soybean crop looks like a record-breaker if flooding did not cause any issues.