Northwest Iowa Crop Conditions

The map above shows nearly all of Western Iowa received between 2 & 4 inches below average rainfall during the past 30 days. Most of this our region had less than ½ inch of rain in the past 2 weeks. Fortunately there was good subsoil moisture this spring to help sustain the crops through this dry time. Temperatures have been warm in July, but not
quite as hot as we feared they would be. We’ve also had multiple cool days and nights as a nice break from the heat. The crops also benefited from high humidity and heavy due mornings. The 6 to 10 day forecast shows above average chances of rain and more warm weather. We are hoping for a widespread rain very soon.

Corn is showing some drought stress, especially in light soils. Pollination will be mostly finished this week, so a rain soon would be very timely. Despite the warm, dry weather, corn continues to look generally good. Early planning dates this year probably benefited corn by allowing it to take advantage of early season moisture and develop deeper roots.
This corn crop still has potential for high yields if conditions improve going forward. Many fields are getting sprayed by airplane or high clearance sprayers this week for plant disease and insect feeding.

Soybeans will soon start their most important time period. They are now at full bloom stage and starting to make pods. In this stage they typically grow rapidly adding new branches and blooming at the same time. This new growth may be limited by dry conditions. In a few weeks soybeans will shift energy more to making pods. We need a few good rains between now and the end of August for a big soybean crop.

Corn markets are trending lower from technical selling and lack of new weather concerns. The weather outlook has improved for most of the Corn Belt. Soybean markets are also under pressure, but they are comparatively stronger because of
exports to China and much tighter projected ending stocks for 2020-21.