Southwest Iowa Crop Conditions

Lack of rain is not a problem for this area lately. Coverage has been wide-spread and for the most part, amounts
have been reasonable. The Onawa to Whiting area has received more than ample amounts the past 30 days, with
some fields receiving 10-12” in that time. Few acres have actually lost crops in that area, although many fields
could not stand another heavy downpour at this time. Corn is 6-12” tall with generally good stands. Beans are 2-4”
tall and stands are also quite good. However, most corn fields show some yellow coloring across the fields, which
is due to roots staying shallow with the moisture and not moving down to the nitrogen. A week or more of warm, dry
weather would encourage root growth and improve the appearance of most of that area. The steeper hills in our
southwestern territory are also doing very well although erosion from earlier rains is still apparent. It will really be
apparent to combine operators who have to bounce across those fields at harvest. Those who are overly
aggressive with tillage year after year suffered considerable erosion; those who employ good conservation
practices fared much better. Overall, the condition of most crops in this region would rate Good. Grain markets
continue a downward trend with improving crop conditions. We probably won’t see much , if any price recovery
until the market gets concerned about summertime weather. Right now, traders believe “rain makes grain”.
Currently, $4.50 on the December corn contract is a very important level to hold onto. Current price on that
contract is $4.53. Local cash bids are about 47 cents below that. It has traded down to $4.50 during the life of that
contract but has not closed the week below that yet. October bean bids are about 50 cents under the recent high.
Sales in the $11.50 range still meet our expectations of last January