Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

Flood waters have receded, but the cleanup efforts continue in many communities. The extended weather forecast is fairly dry. Believe it or not, many farms could already use more rain. Temperatures are below average this week and forecast to continue the cool trend next week. After that it looks like a return to typical hot summer weather. Surprisingly, a lot of the flooded cropland has already been planted to soybeans or some type of cover crop. The flood damage to crops will be covered by federal crop insurance, but for many it won’t be enough to cover all the expenses. Most of the homes, businesses, farm buildings, grain bins, and other property do not have flood insurance, and the property insurance does not cover flooding. There are other sources of funding like FEMA available in the disaster area, but it’s unclear what qualifies for payments.

Corn conditions vary widely depending on the farm’s location and drainage. The northern side of this territory has a lot of rough looking corn. The wet spots lingered for too long which severely limited the corn’s root growth. These wet areas have uneven corn size and show signs of nitrogen deficiency. On the other hand, well drained farms especially farther south look very good. The corn is tasseling now with is about average on timing. The recent weather cool down is mostly favorable during pollination time, but it will delay maturity depending on how long it lasts. I think the corn that’s in good shape now has very good yield potential, but the many trouble spots from excess moisture will drag down the averages. Nitrogen deficiency, plant diseases, and root lodging are the next potential problems I expect could be widespread in the corn over the next month.

Soybeans also vary in size and condition across the area. They have struggled in poorly drained fields or spots in fields. The good news is, as long as a farm has an acceptable plant stand filling in the rows by the end of July, that farm has a chance to makeup a lot of yield in August despite a rough start. Many of the beans were planted later than usual, and they struggled with wet soils in June. However, there is still average or better yield potential on the majority of farms in this territory (outside of the flood zones).