Northwest Iowa — Farmers saw one of the driest weeks so far in the harvest season and they were able to get a lot done.
The USDA crop report says there were five days suitable for fieldwork last week.
Brad Medlock from the USDA tells us that harvest and other activities kept farmers busy.
He says we’ve had enough rain for a while.
Medlock tells us that while the growing season has ended in northern Iowa, some fields have not yet reached maturity.
The corn harvest more than doubled with 15 percent of the corn now out of the fields — compared to seven percent last week. That is still 11 days behind the average harvest.
The biggest gain came in the soybean harvest — which went from 17 percent to 48 percent harvested in the last week. That is now four days ahead of last year and five days behind average — a statistic he says is somewhat significant, compared to last year.
The corn condition is rated 66 percent good to excellent — with the soybeans rated at 65 percent good to excellent.
According to Medlock, news in the “other” category was mixed.
Here in the Northwest Iowa Reporting District, the crop report says 82 percent of corn made it to the “mature” stage. It says only 19 percent of northwest Iowa corn has been harvested. Nearly 100 percent of alfalfa hay has been cut for the third time. It says 96 percent of soybeans are dropping leaves, and 60 percent of the soybeans in our district have been harvested.
