Northeast Iowa Crop Conditions

Crop Progress has been good over the last 4 weeks. All crops were planted by mid-May,and with no wet soils to dodge this year. We have received enough rain since planting to get everything up and growing. It has been hard to get a general rain over the whole area this spring, some places saw some nice amounts in May, while other areas continue to be on the short side. Temperatures have been variable. The Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend saw some frost in places. Low lying areas and fields that were no tilled had some limited damage to both corn and soybeans, although there has been reports of a few fields of soybeans that needed to be replanted. Once the calendar flipped to June, the weather has warmed rapidly, and the last several days have been well above average.The crops have grown rapidly with the heat, and look good, but a rain soon would be welcome.

The grain markets are staying volatile. It is doubtful we have ever seen a May with this much market activity, both up and down. June has started out very strong, and prices are nearing highs achieved earlier this spring. Exports and weather continue to drive the markets. With grain stocks at low levels, it will likely continue to be an exciting market all the way through the summer. National crop conditions are off to a good start but conditions this early aren’t necessarily indicative of how things turn out. Last year’s ratings for this week were even higher than current, but yields tailed off with the dry end of the growing season in many areas.