?Variability? is the what northwestern Iowa can look forward to in corn

by | Aug 6, 2020 | 5 Ag Stories, News

Despite all the external challenges, 2020 got off to a superb start as far as planting goes. Iowa seemed to get all its crops planted much quicker than the two years prior. By mid-May, many farmers were wrapping up. As you drive by some cornfields, you are undoubtedly seeing some good-looking corn. However, money isn?t made from windshield farming. Don?t let the appearances fool you, there are still some challenges facing corn growers in northwest Iowa.

Golden Harvest is hosting a series of virtual crop tours in August and September. Without fairs and farm shows, it is a chance to have specialists engage with farmers about what is being seen throughout their area of the Cornbelt. This morning, they covered what things look like in northwest Iowa.

Mitch Montgomery is part of the Golden Harvest agronomy team for Northwest Iowa. He talked about challenges that stemmed from early planting. The biggest challenges were caused by cold, wet soil. Early May saw cooler temps and threats of frost. However, in the back half of the month, we saw a great increase in Growing Degree Units (GDUs).

Residue Cover also lends itself to this variability we are seeing. As residue drifted in some spots, Montgomery said we saw soil temperatures differing by as much as 9 degrees from one row to another.

Those differences are also showing up as the corn develops ears. The plants that were further along had normal ear development, last week, with brown silks. The plants that were lagging were seeing ears with yellow silks, or some ears not even shooting silks yet. At this point in the year, this is going to lend to high variability in just one field. Montgomery says that producers can expect to see variability in their moisture levels as well when these rows are harvested. Certain rows are just going to be behind because of the conditions way back at planting time.

Sidewall compaction is another area in which Montgomery is concerned. He talked about how the surface soil was dry at planting, but if you went down into the seedbed, the ground was still wet and cold. The conditions were ripe for sidewall smear.

Nitrogen burn was also a problem because of this smearing. Anhydrous was not able to dissipate in the soil and crept back up the plants.

So, what does this mean going forward? Is the news all doom and gloom for the northwest part of the state? Montgomery says by no means is this the case. He says we still have a distance to go for finishing up the year. If conditions stay supportive, there is no reason we cannot see some of these challenged rows produce some nice corn.

However, it is up to Mother Nature to decide if we get what we need. After the past few years, our relationship with her is rocky at best.