Excellent October weather conditions have led to a rapid harvest. That?s the same story for farmers in Fremont County.
The combines were rolling on the Carl Jardon farm this past Friday. He raises corn and soybeans near Randolph, and uses no-till conservation practices on his farm. With the help of neighbors Kenny and Dave McGargill, a lot of progress was made on Jardon?s 182-acre corn field between Randolph and Imogene.
?We?ve had tremendous harvest weather, other than being windy,? Jardon said. ?The corn we?re doing is down to about 12 and a half percent moisture. We?ve had some hot and dry weather here all the way from the later half of September to now. It?s just been great drying weather. The bean harvest went flying through. We didn?t have almost any rain delays at all.?
While he spends his time running the family farm, Jardon is also the president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. He says it?s been a unique growing season for Iowa farmers which saw record planting in the spring, followed by drought conditions in the late summer.
?We had really good planting time and then it turned off hot and dry too early,? Jardon said. ?The old adage that July makes corn and August makes beans. We had a few nice days in July with a half inch rain here or there. That helped make the corn and then we had some subsoil moisture that the corn utilized, but the beans did not. It turned off too hot and dry in August for the beans.?
Jardon expressed sympathy for the many growers in the state who are dealing with downed corn this harvest season as a result from the August 10th derecho. Damage from that storm stayed well north of Fremont County.
?We really feel bad for the friends and relatives that we know in the central part of Iowa that are suffering from that,? Jardon said. ?It?s just terrible. I cannot imagine having to go through that having junk out in the middle of your fields and having downed corn.?
A video feature with Jardon can be viewed below.
