Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

Wet weather gave farmers a break from planting. Most farmers are planting soybeans, and they are on schedule
to finish in good time unless it stays wet. Most areas in our northwest territory needed rain, so we are not
complaining about wet fields yet.

Corn is about 30% emerged and most looks to have a good stand. Warm weather would be nice to get the corn
out of the ground faster. It’s important for corn to emerge at relatively the same time so that uneven plants aren’t competing for sunlight throughout the season and so they pollinate at the same time. Generally speaking corn is off to a good start so far.

We will start to see the first planted soybean fields emerging this week as other fields still need to be planted. The planting window will be longer for soybeans, but significant yield loss from late planting generally doesn’t start until June. More than likely all the soybeans will be planted before June 1st.

The grain markets are holding steady despite good planting progress.