Counties of: Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sioux
The weather in this region has been mostly favorable over the past couple of weeks. Crops continue to progress ahead of normal thanks to warmer than average temperatures in May and June along with fairly widespread rain events for two weeks in a row. On average, this area gets 4+ inches of rain in June (typically our wettest month). This June, most farms were fortunate to get near that June average, but the range was from about 1.5 to 6 or more inches. So, areas on the short end of that need rain badly while other areas are in good shape for now. The subsoil is still short on moisture, so we are just getting by on rainfall for now. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows nearly all of Iowa remains in moderate to severe drought. The two-week outlook from the National Weather Service calls for average temperatures and slightly above average chances of rain.
Most corn is in good to excellent condition at this stage. It’s 4 to 6 feet tall and only about 8 days from the first tassels poking out, which is earlier than usual. It’s still easy to find size variability, which started back when corn emerged unevenly in cold dry soil. Additional rainfall will be needed in early July, and ideally average or below temperatures during grain fill.
Soybeans are 8 to 14 inches tall and generally in good condition. The early beans are setting flowers. The 30-inch rows have a long way to go before canopy closure, but the narrow rows are mostly all closed. Weed control has been pretty good on the recent post-emerge herbicide applications. This time of year, soybeans are building capacity to make pods & beans in August.
Please click on the links on the right to view the past pdf’s of our Northwest Crop Conditions reports.
1705 N Lake Ave
Storm Lake, IA 50588
Real Estate Licensed in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota.
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