Counties of: Woodbury, Ida, Sac, Monona, Crawford, Harrison, Shelby
Rain overnight on July 3rd was life support to western Iowa. Generally, coverage was good and amounts varied from .5″ to 1.5″. Corn fields that showed every light spot on Sunday looked much improved on Monday. One corn field grew 6″ in 24 hours after the rain. Soybeans in 15″ rows filled out enough to shade the ground. Achieving ground shade is a significant step from both crops, for both water retention and suppression of late-emerging weeds.
More rain is forecast this week, and that will be needed since water usage is really ramping up for both crops now. Corn will be using.25″ to .3″ per day during July. It seems doubtful that enough moisture can be found in the soil profile without some good rains this month. July rainfall averages around 4″. At .25″ per day corn will use up 7.5″. August is the most critical month for beans, but they need to achieve more stature during July as the plants move from the vegetative stages into the reproductive stages. Foot-tall beans are much behind normal.
Grain prices appear to have made their normal June highs before fading the last ten days of the month. This happens with regularity, and is often followed by a final upward gasp before mid-July. Of course, a major drought like 2012 takes markets off their normal course.
A good number of land sales are scheduled for July and August. Since 75% of sales occur the 2nd half of the year, we anticipate lots of activity between now and early December. Recent sales have ranged from $5,300 per acre for 40 acres of CRP in Crawford County to $21,700 for a farm near Remsen.
Please click on the links on the right to view the past pdf’s of our Southwest Crop Conditions reports.
1705 N Lake Ave
Storm Lake, IA 50588
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