Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

The major rivers in NW Iowa are going down this week, but they are still high. Our entire region has had more than enough rain lately. Farms that are prone to flooding, have slow draining soils, or haveinsufficient tile are generally in poor shape. On the other hand, farms that have good drainage and were lucky enough to miss the heaviest rains & storms have mostly good to excellent crops.

Most corn is currently in the early stages of pollination, which is running about a week ahead of normal schedule. This is among the most important phases of corn development. Lots of corn will be sprayed with a fungicide in the next 10 days. The weather outlook for the next 8 to 14 days is cooler than average with normal to below normal rainfall. If that trend continues through August, we could see very good corn yieldson some fields. The biggest issues that may hold back yields are nitrogen loss, plant diseases, poor rootsystem, saturated soil, and perhaps too much heat in August. This corn crop would benefit from normal tocool temps and lots of sunshine to finish out the season.

Soybean conditions are even more dependent on drainage than corn. Fields with good natural drainage orplenty of tile are mostly in good shape. There are lots of yellow areas in some fields as you drive around the countryside, generally these are in the wetter areas. Those areas will have reduced yields, outside ofthat the beans should have good potential.