Although last week’s rainfall in northwest Iowa limited farmers’ access to the fields, over three-fourths of the corn crop had been harvested for grain in northwest Iowa as of Monday. And that crop has brought smiles to more than a few faces, according to Ben Van Beek, Farmers Coop Society (FCS) Agronomist at the Sanborn office. “Yields have been really good,” said Van Beek. “Everyone is really happy with their yields. Nobody thought we would get these yields in the middle of June when it was really dry.”
The FCS Sanborn corn test plot produced an average yield of 251.6 bushels per acre at 15 percent moisture. Among the hybrids at the test plot, moisture ranged from a high of 27.5 percent to a low of 19.3 percent.
At the FCS Sanborn soybean test plot, the average yield was 74.5 bushels per acre at 13 percent moisture. As far as percentage of grain moisture among the varieties was concerned, the low was 13.5 percent and the high 14.9.
The recent rains have helped to replenish the soil moisture in the state. According to USDA’s Iowa Crop Progress and Condition report, 86 percent of the state’s topsoil moisture was rated adequate to surplus. That stands as the highest percentage of the season.