Counties of: Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sioux
This is my last report of the season. Harvest is essentially complete in NW Iowa. Only a few small patches remain. It looked like we would have an early harvest back in September, but it turned into a long one because of all the weather delays and saturated soil. Conditions were frustrating as farmers switched from corn to soybeans and back again multiple times trying to make progress. There was less time for field work than usual this year because of the weather. Fall tillage, anhydrous fertilizer, soil sampling, and tile work could be ending soon because of frozen ground and snowfall.
Soybeans turned-out to be a good crop this year, but not a record one. The common theme was well drained farms or well tiled farms did good and poor drained farms didn’t. Disease pressure and the use of a fungicide was also a big factor.
Corn yields were good to very good on well drained farms. Many farms attained record high yields this year. Overall this was one of the best or possibly the best corn crops ever in parts of NW Iowa. The extreme northern areas and northeast areas were much less consistent. Disease pressure and nitrogen management were the biggest factors other than drainage.
I will start sending these reports again next spring. We wish you a very Happy Holiday season!
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.
Stay informed and connected—subscribe to our mailing list today to receive the latest issues of Today’s Land Owner, Crop Updates, or get notified of auctions and real estate for sale, sent directly in your inbox!