Southwest Iowa Crop Conditions

The roller coaster ride of weather extremes continues we had 4” of snow with rain last week and we will be in the 70’s today. Planting progress has been very slow so far, and the little bit of corn that is planted has a greater risk of poor emergence from cold stress. Soil moisture levels are in much better shape now, but the drier areas in this region are still 3 to 4 inches short of “normal” spring levels. T he drier areas are more vulnerable to a late spring or summer shift to hot and dry. T he 10 day weather outlook is looking more favorable to planting. I expect we will still get the corn planted early enough so that yields will not suffer.

The markets have moved lower because of favorable weather forecasts. Volatile prices will likely continue as traders react to weather, planting progress, crop development, tight old crop supplies and USDA reports