Southeast Iowa Crop Conditions

Warmer weather has brought on the mad dash to get this year’s crop planted. Many farmers southeast of Storm Lake got started planting during the last week of April and had a pretty good run until the rain returned on May 1st. Progress since then has been slow and spotty as well drained areas have been able to work in-between thunderstorms, while others have to wait for the soil to dry. The general divide line of progress is US Highway 20. North or Highway 20 has been a bit of a struggle and south of Highway 20has seen more progress. This was the divide line of heavy to light snow totals during the last blizzard in
mid-April.

The markets have been choppy lately as traders balance supply and demand with international political tensions and planting delays in parts of the corn belt. The corn market looks like there may be room to go higher as planted acres are expected to decline substantially from 2017 and overall usage is very strong.Soybeans are fighting a tougher battle as acres are expected to increase and add to an already burdensome oversupply of soybeans in the world.