Statewide Iowa — Fall arrives tomorrow and the Iowa Department of Transportation is already looking ahead to winter by signing farmers up for the Standing Corn Program. Scott Suhr, the DOT’s district transportation planner, based in Atlantic, explains how it works.
The program has been around some 15 years. The agency also pays farmers five-dollars for each bushel of corn left in the field. Once spring arrives, farmers are free to harvest the corn. There is a second installment of the program that involves installing snow fences.
The program makes the DOT’s work more efficient.
To qualify, the unpicked corn rows must be nearest to the road and the DOT will only compensate farmers for up to 16 rows. There’s no official deadline date for farmers to join, but he says they like to have all the information ready by the time harvest starts — by the first or second week of October.
