Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

After a wet August and early September, we are finally getting warm and dry weather recently which is needed to dry the soil ahead of harvest. This season has been somewhat unique in that we didn’t have an extended period of dry weather all summer. The two week weather outlook is calling for slightly above average rain with average temps.

Most corn is beginning to turn fall “mature” colors starting with the lower leaves. Around half of the cornhas reached or is very close to full maturity “Black Layer”. This is a little ahead of schedule. Some cornfields may be harvested before soybeans this year. In some cases corn matured faster than it should because of some underlying problem like leaf or stock disease, nitrogen deficiency, wind/hail damage, or saturated soils. The wet season was a factor in most of these problems. It’s difficult to say how much impact these stresses will have on corn yield. Overall I expect corn yields in NW Iowa will be very good,but some farms (or areas in farms) will be below average.

Many soybeans are just starting to turn yellow. The early soybeans may be harvested in about two weeks depending on the weather. Areas with limited drainage will have reduced yields. Plant diseases like sudden death syndrome and white mold wereworse this season because of the prolonged wet conditions.These issues will make yields variable (same with corn), but overall this looks to be a big soybean crop in NW Iowa.