Northeast Iowa Crop Conditions

Welcome to 2020! What a difference a year makes on planting conditions. At this time last year very little field work had been done. This year following a 4-7 inch snow at Easter, the weather has been great with seasonable temperatures and dry conditions. Corn planting started in earnest last week, and a conservative estimate is that 2/3 of the crop in the area has been planted. Soil conditions have been excellent. Soybean planting is also off to a good start and roughly 25% of
that crop is in the ground. The western corn belt is well ahead of normal planting progress, while the eastern corn belt is a little slower but still ahead of normal.

The grain markets are also a completely different story than last year. The coronavirus is truly impacting everyone, the grain industry is no exception. On corn, we are at the lowest price in many years, thanks to an ethanol industry that normally uses 40% of our crop but is now nearly at a standstill. The glut of oil from reduced worldwide demand is adversely affecting the entire energy complex. It will take a resumption in people getting back into travel routines to get product moving again, but at this point it looks to be a slow process.

Soybeans have performed a little better than corn, but are still struggling. Usage should increase with more inclusion of soybean meal in livestock rations going forward, and exports should pick up over time. Nevertheless, there still isn’t a bullish scenario without a weather problem this summer,as South America has produced another large crop this year