The Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report on Monday showed more rapid production on the harvest front.
Iowa State Climatologist Dr. Justin Glisan tells the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network that the report indicates the soybean harvest is finished in the state, with the exception of maybe a few fields here and there. He says the corn harvest isn?t far behind.
?Only two percent of the corn for grain remains to be harvested,? Glisan said. ?This is a continuation of being pretty well ahead ? three weeks ahead ? of last year and 11 days ahead of the five-year average. There are scattered fields that still need to be harvested, but things are looking great out there given drought conditions, along with the derecho damage that we had on August 10th.?
Glisan says farmers took advantage of favorable weather conditions over the past week.
?We had dry conditions across the state,? he said. ?So, we had about 6.3 days of suitable field work, which is excellent. We have had pretty dry conditions over the past few weeks. We?ve really made progress in the field. With that dryness, we do have some topsoil moisture that is depleting: 13 percent very short, 31 percent short. We would like to see additional rainfall, even snowfall would be great, to recharge those subsoil profiles as we have talked about in previous conversations.?
The report showed subsoil moisture condition rated 22 percent very short, 35 percent short, 43 percent adequate, and zero percent surplus. Glisan notes that extra tillage is being done by some farmers out of concern for volunteer corn in 2021 due to damaged corn this crop year.
The USDA report indicated no problems with livestock were reported. Livestock producers continue to allow cattle to graze on corn stalks. Some producers are providing supplemental feed for cattle on pastures.
