Growers experienced a number of challenges this year before harvesting their soybean and corn crops.
“Although the last few years were met with extreme drought, the growing conditions this year were difficult as well,” noted Leah Ten Napel, Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist serving nine counties in northwest Iowa. “We began the season with excess moisture. Growers dealt with delayed planting or replanting of crops. Northwest Iowa dealt with flooding, wind and hail damage, late season diseases, and a lack of rainfall at the end of the growing season.”
“Bean yields were a little lower than normal,” reported Ben Van Beek, agronomist at Farmers Coop Society’s Sanborn location. “The wet start to the season and then lack of rain in July and August hurt the beans yields.” During the corn harvest Van Beek was seeing yields better than expected. “It is not our best crop by any means, but better on average compared to the beans,” he said. Van Beek was seeing corn range from very dry to being still wet. “It depends on planting date,” he noted. “The wet areas from this spring and early summer have a big impact on the crops this year.”
“Yield reports shared with me from local producers varied, of course, like they do every year, however reports seemed to be average/below average of what growers have seen the previous few years,” added Ten Napel. “I believe growers went into the growing season optimistic because of the excess moisture that we have been missing in previous years, but the variables this crop had to deal definitely put this year’s hybrids to the test.”
The recent precipitation is increasing the moisture levels in northwest Iowa. The USDA’s Crop Progress and Condition report released on Monday revealed as much, even before this week’s precip, The report for topsoil moisture showed 50 percent adequate, 32 percent short, 16 percent very short and two percent surplus. For the subsoil moisture it was 43 percent short, 41 percent adequate and 16 percent very short with no surplus.