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Iowa crops could use some rain

Two northern Iowa farmers say their crops look good, but could use some rain.

Dean Coleman farms near Humboldt in north-central Iowa. He says they’ve only had four inches of rain since the end of May and the crops are showing signs of stress.

“You can start to see from last Monday to this Monday, the light spots are starting to deteriorate a bit,” Coleman says. “The corn to starting to shrink a little bit and the beans are rolling up just a little bit.”

But Coleman says the pollination of corn appears to be going well.

“We were out in some of the corn fields yesterday (Monday), checking pollination, and stuff that’s pollinated looks really good,” he says.

Wayne Fredericks farms about 80 miles northeast of Coleman, near Osage, Iowa. He says they’ve been fortunate to catch a few more rains in his area and he thinks their crops have “above-average” potential. But they are running about a week behind normal, Fredericks says.

‘We lost time in that cool weather in June, so we’re kind of playing catch up now,” he says. “The beans are just kind of starting to get their legs under them and grow now. And we’re just starting to see tassels, so pollination is going to be in the next ten days.  Probably about a week behind, so it will more or less give us probably wetter corn in the fall.”

Brownfield spoke with Coleman and Fredericks Tuesday at an Iowa Soybean Association event near Alexander, Iowa.

AUDIO: Dean Coleman

 

AUDIO: Wayne Fredericks

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