Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

Spring weather has arrived bringing warmer weather and rainfall to our region. The deep frost layer is finally fading away. If we could get an extended stretch of warm and dry weather, field work and corn planting would start quickly. The problem is the extended forecast calls for the opposite, cooler than average temps with more rainfall and even possible snow this week. Areas farther west and north are predicted to get heavy snow. River levels are still high from March flooding, so some of those flood prone areas could easily be flooded again.

It looks like corn planting (and even fertilizer applications) won’t start until late-April at the earliest and more
likely May. We are not too worried about this situation yet. As long as we get corn planted by mid-May, the crop should have nearly full potential. Most farm operations can plant all their corn in about a week, so the outlook can change quickly. Soybeans are typically planted after corn for a few reasons but partly because they are better at tolerating late season planting. If planting truly gets delayed in the upper Midwest, that would likely lead to more soybean acres which would be a problem for soybean prices.

The grain markets were slowly trending higher last month until the USDA’s Quarterly Grain Stocks and Prospective Plantings report was released on March 29th. Expected corn acres were increased 3.7 million acres over last year. Soybean acres were reduced, but not enough to change expected large carryover. In response corn fell 13 cents and soybeans were mixed. Markets have stabilized since then, but it seems they will need a major trade deal with China or a widespread weather issue later this spring or summer to push much higher.