The latest weekly crop report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows nearly every day last week was suitable for fieldwork in Iowa.
Farmers were able to make hay and spread fertilizer on their corn and soybeans.
In North Central Iowa’s Winnebago County, producer Wayne Johnson says the sunshine was just what his crops needed.
“We were able to get planting done in pretty timely fashion for the most part,” he says. “Everything went in pretty early except for a couple of soybean field, but the fields are looking great!”
Johnson and his partners farm nearly seven thousand acres. He says he is fortunate that his corn and bean plants are tall enough to withstand some substantial rain that fell on the area Friday night.
“It ranged anywhere from four-tenths of an inch to five inches, so on five of the farms we did have some standing water, but I felt like I dodged a big bullet there,” he says. “And then this morning we had another pretty good push just to the North of us.
Some areas of the state, especially central and southern Iowa could use some rain. The latest United States Drought Monitor report issued last Thursday classifies about 14-percent of the state as abnormally dry.
