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Iowa farmer welcomes rain, but says weeds are a challenge

After going nearly three weeks without rain, farmer Steve Bireline of Adair, Iowa was glad to see a rain shower this week.

“We went probably 18 to 20 days without rain—and we’ve had a lot of heat,” Bireline says. “The corn was starting to show a little bit of stress. And some of the last-planted soybeans were having trouble getting up because they didn’t have any moisture.”

Bireline says daytime highs in the 90’s have made it more challenging to control weeds.

“It’s kind of tough to spray right now—the weeds kind of shut down during the day, because it’s so hot,” he says. “And the weeds are starting to get what I call ‘hard’. They don’t uptake the herbicide like they should be if we were in normal weather conditions, in my eyes.”

Adair is about 60 miles west of Des Moines.

AUDIO: Steve Bireline, visiting with Brownfield’s Nicole Heslip