Northeast Iowa Crop Conditions

Harvest has been in full gear for nearly a month. A very welcome inch of rain was received last night, which was the first rain in over a month. Soybean harvest is largely finished. Results were a little better than we expected in most cases, with yields from the 40 bu/acre area to the low 60’s. Corn harvest is likely near 2/3 done in the area. Yields are as we expected, highly variable. Location and soil types make a huge difference. Just one rain can mean a swing of 30 bu/acre from a farm right down the road that missed it, and it is common to see swings of 100 bu/acre on the combine yield monitor for the same swath of the combine as soil types change across the field. Heavy soils really shine this year. A positive this year is that the corn is very dry coming out of the field. Drying costs will be minimal. The grain markets continue to be strong. The latest USDA report, released last Friday, kept national yields fairly steady at 178 bu/ac and 51 bu/ac for corn and soybeans respectively, but dropped harvested acres and carry over. The market is bidding for delivery of crops now, especially on soybeans, as is reflected a strong nearby basis. This shows good demand, and possibly that crop yields could be lowered on upcoming reports. It has been easy to sell grain right off the combine given these relatively good harvest prices.