Statewide Iowa — The latest USDA crop report shows Iowa’s corn crop is rated at 58 percent good to excellent — a slight drop from last week’s 61 percent rating.
The soybean condition was also rated at 58 percent good to excellent — down from 60 percent the week before.
Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says things could have been a lot worse if not for some rain that helped some of the dry areas.
Things still remain very dry in areas of the state, and overall Naig says we are still behind.
Naig says some farmers are still trying to recover from last year’s derecho damage.
Naig says there are always added costs as you are rebuilding bins and other things, and that keeps the burden of the storm recovery going into this year. Naig made his comments during a recent interview at the Iowa State Fair.
As far as crop progress and conditions in northwest Iowa, the report says 84 percent of our corn has reached the dough stage, with 26 percent at the dent stage. Ninety-nine percent of northwest Iowa soybeans are setting pods.
Northwest Iowa farmland is still dry. The latest report says only 22 percent of topsoil moisture is adequate, with zero percent surplus. Over half — 51 percent — of topsoil moisture is rated “short,” with 27 percent rated “very short.”
As far as deeper moisture, only 12 percent of northwest Iowa subsoil moisture is rated “adequate,” 50 percent is “short,” and 38 percent is “very short.”
The latest report from the US Drought Monitor shows most of Lyon County rated at D0, or “abnormally dry.” Most of Osceola County is in D1 or “moderate drought.” The northeast half of O’Brien County is in that same category, with the southwest half in D2 or “severe drought.” Northeast Sioux County is more like Lyon County, at D0 or “abnormally dry,” with a little more than the southwest half in D1, or “moderate drought.”
