News

Iowa crops receive increased precipitation

Much needed rainfall brought relief to crops across Iowa last week.

USDA’s latest weekly update says increased precipitation helped alleviate some crop stress, although conditions remain dry.

Matt Nelson covers central Iowa for Channel and tells Brownfield it’s hard to estimate yields.

“I’m still pretty bullish on where this rain can take the soybeans, but with corn it will really come down to how many kernels we lost over the past few weeks. And also, what factor we use for depth, and that will be determined by how healthy we can keep this corn as we finish out grain fill.”

Nearly 60 percent of Iowa’s corn crop has reached the dough stage, which is three days faster than last year and the five-year average.  Corn rated good to excellent remained at 59 percent.

Soybeans are maturing faster than normal with 75 percent setting pods.  The condition rating dropped two percentage points on the week to 53 percent good to excellent.

Oats are 80 percent harvested, and the third cutting of alfalfa is more than halfway done.