Northeast Iowa Crop Conditions

For the first time in a month, we had a full week of dry weather to resume field work before a few showers moved in on Monday. Farmers were busy with soybean planting , and we estimate that 75% of soybeans in the area are planted. Corn planting finished up (for the most part) last week. There was a lot of replant activity on corn acres.Virtually every field of corn planted in mid April had spots with thin or no stand due to cold and wet conditions during emergence. Most farmers were able to get in last week and replant into those areas. In a few cases, whole fields had to be reworked and planted. This was not an ideal start to the growing season in these areas, but the main take away is that seed is in the ground and hope for warm weather to aid in catching up with the maturity of the rest of the crop.

The grain markets have diverged, with corn moving higher and soybeans lower. There is thought with the recent rally in soybeans that more acres will be switched to that crop. Demand remains strong for both crops. Nationally,planting progress is slightly ahead of normal for both crops, so no planting delay rallies this year.

Poor emergence on a mid April planting of corn Corn at V2 stage (Pocahontas County) Soybeans Emerging(Clay County)