Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

Wet weather will delay planting into June for some farmers in NW Iowa. There’s been few chances to get crops planted this spring in-between rain events. This is especially true for the north half of this region where some fields have remained too wet for fieldwork all spring. Cooltemps slow down the drying process and slow down crop emergence. The weather outlook calls for more of the same cool and wet. Nationally corn is only 49% planted vs the five year average
of 80% planted.

Corn planting is mostly complete overall, but farms with slow drainage or farms in flood prone areas have not been fit to plant. In other cases the windows of opportunity have been so sort that farmers just didn’t have enough time to get done yet. If the corn is not planted by the end of the month there are some decisions to make. The most common include: 1) switch to an early maturity corn variety, 2) plant soybeans, 3) take the prevented planting from crop insurance.
The final planting date for corn is May 31 and June 15 for soybeans. There is a late-plant ingperiod after the final dates, crops planted in this period are still insured but coverage is reduced.

The corn planted in late-April is just emerging now (it only took a month!). So far the stands have generally looked better than expected, but it’s still early in the process. The cool weatherextends the emergence process and adds variability which is not good. On the plus side, wet soilconditions help corn emerge (as long as it’s not completely saturated). Most of the corn was planted into overly wet soil which would have gotten hard if it dried fast. Corn in this situation
needs frequent small rains to help its roots develop in the early stages. Interesting how the
cause of the problem is also the solution.

Soybean planting continues when possible. At least half of the soybeans in this area still need tobe planted. Soybeans can be planted until mid-June without a major yield loss.