Statewide Iowa — (RI) — A return to cool, wet weather put the brakes on planting in most areas of the state.
Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says the weekly U-S-D-A crop report showed less than two suitable days for field work last week.
Naig says less than half the projected corn acres are planted.
The U-S-D-A report says this is the smallest percent of corn planted by May 12 since 2013 when just 15 percent of the expected crop had been planted. It is the fifth time in 40 years that less than half the expected crop has been planted by May 12. The soybean planting is six days behind both last year and the five-year average. Naig says farmers are anxious — but this is not new.
He says farmers still have some time before considering a move from corn to beans.
Cool temperatures are also a problem for corn that is already planted, as only five-percent of the corn is emerging.
Northeast Iowa is lagging most in corn planting — at only twenty-four-percent. West central Iowa has the most corn planted at 67 percent.
