Northwest Iowa — Many farmers have been dealing with excessive moisture this year along with harvest delays due to wet weather and, in many areas, flooding.
Iowa State University Extension field agronomist Paul Kassel, who covers ten counties in northwest Iowa, says corn will have to be dried to prevent it from spoiling while in storage and drying expenses will be way up this year.
For many growers, the harvest for corn and soybeans is at least two weeks late. Kassel says the majority of the corn that was planted in late spring through the first week of June is in great condition.
Soybean growers had cooperative harvest weather in the past week or so, but about half the soybean crop still needs to be brought in.
Kassel says producers are hoping for conditions to be like in 2009 when they had a lot of rain in October but then November brought good weather that allowed harvest to be completed in late November and early December.
