Wallaces Farmer recently reported how flood waters are impacting Iowa’s 2010 corn and soybean crops, particularly in southeast and west central Iowa. Overall, Iowa fields are on their way to a profitable season, however, wet conditions and standing water remain an issue for many farmers trying to replant before it’s too late.
The article stated Iowa’s 2010 corn crop has fallen from 72% in the good-to-excellent category to 66% due mainly to flooding and excessive rainfall this past week. Similarly, the state’s soybean crop has dropped from 66% in the good-to-excellent category to 64%, according to the government’s weekly weather and crop conditions report released July 6.
The article adds that approximately 8% of Iowa corn crop is tasseled and silking and 27% of Iowa’s soybean crop has bloomed, proving to be good news for soaked Iowa farmers.
Northeast and North Central Iowa areas had a moderate spring but were soaked when they received large amounts of rain this week — the Waterloo area receiving 7 inches in two days.
John Holmes, an Extension field agronomist for Iowa State University, says that in northern Iowa, “We have anything from really nice looking corn that is now tasseling and silking to corn that is probably just over knee-high and is pale yellow and really looks marginal. Not very pretty at all.”
Holmes added, “It’s easy to drive down the road and see the problem fields—and get a distorted picture of the whole county. Keep in mind we do have areas in Iowa, even here in the soggy parts of north central and central Iowa, that are going to produce some tremendous amounts of corn this fall. Some of these fields this summer are indeed looking very nice. However, in other areas of the state—such as in southeast and south central Iowa—they’ve have had one problem after another this year, mainly due to the very heavy amounts of rainfall they received throughout June and into July.”
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