Southwest Iowa Crop Conditions

Southwest Iowa Crop Conditions

Southwest of Storm Lake

Counties of: Woodbury, Ida, Sac, Monona, Crawford, Harrison, Shelby

Past Weeks Rainfall: Some rain with the “December derecho” on Wednesday, the 15th.
Soil Moisture: Most of Woodbury and northwestern Ida Counties are rated abnormally dry, other areas are rated as normal on the Drought Monitor.
Temperature: Very pleasant for mid-December. Highs in the 30’s and 40’s, lows in the 20’s with some nights dipping into the teens.
Crop Progress: Fieldwork is done for the season except for some tiling or construction jobs.

Corn

Crop Stage: Done
Yield Potential: Very good

Soybean

Crop Stage: Done
Yield Potential: Very good

Corn Market

Current Prices: $5.77/bu
Fall Prices: $5.14/bu
Past Weeks Trend: Higher

Soybean Market

Current Prices: $12.50/bu
Fall Prices: $11.72/bu
Past Weeks Trend: Higher

Comments:

Dennis Reyman AFM, ARA

Harvest has concluded and most are pleasantly surprised and pleased with their yields. Not everyone received timely rains in late summer and yields dropped off considerably in those cases. Yields well under 200 bushel corn and around 50 bushel soybeans were seen in those places. Sill respectable income there with the high crop prices, but not the home run year that many are enjoying.

Crop prices have worked slightly higher in the past month. That’s expected as harvest deliveries come to an end and producers are not interested in opening grain bins unless prices entice them. Ethanol producers are also enjoying great profit margins despite expensive corn and are pushing bids accordingly. Notice the bid quoted above is from one of the main elevator locations in our southwest territory; however, ethanol plants are bidding over $6.00 in some locations. That is accomplished by bidding higher than the world-wide bid established on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. A+20 cent basis is uncommon and tells us about ethanol profitability and what it is taking to acquire bushels on a daily basis. Bids for October 2022 deliver are over $5.00 which is attractive; however, with inflation of crop production costs, grain merchandisers tell us they’re not contracting many bushels yet as farmers wait to see how farm budgets will work. Meanwhile, projections for 2022/23 grain inventories are telling some grain market analysts that current prices may be higher now than will actually be warranted.

Most of the Corn Belt that is east of the Missouri River and south of US Highway 20 has improved in soil moisture conditions. However, west and north of those lines have dry to serious drought conditions. Our southwestern territory is dry despite the appearance on the Drought Monitor. My own shallow well for cattle use is 19′ deep and the water level has dropped to 15′. The water is normally near the surface. That tells us there is little reserve to grow next year’s crops.

The Iowa State University Land Value survey was released on December 14th. It came as no surprise that the state average jumped by 29%. Counties in this area were 27% to 32% higher. That agrees almost perfectly with the sale data that we compile throughout the year. Most in the land business keep pretty good track of sales anymore, so these land value surveys are based on opinions that are well-equipped with real-time sale data.

We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and we look forward to the New Year!

Crop Update Achives

Please click on the links on the right to view the past pdf’s of our Southwest Crop Conditions reports.

Market Conditions

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