Warm and mostly dry conditions last week helped push Iowa’s corn and soybean crops toward maturity, according to the latest USDA Crop Progress and Condition Report. Farmers across north central Iowa had more than six days suitable for fieldwork, with many chopping silage, baling hay, and preparing for harvest.
Ninety percent of Iowa’s corn crop is dented, with nearly half now matured. Soybeans are 73 percent coloring, and about one-third have started dropping leaves. Crop conditions remain steady, with 79 percent of corn and 75 percent of soybeans rated good to excellent.
Locally, Osage picked up nearly an inch of rain midweek, while other parts of Franklin, Wright, and Butler counties stayed mostly dry. State Climatologist Justin Glisan (like “Listen”) says temperatures ran about four degrees above normal, keeping fields warm as combines prepare to roll.
