Crops may take a hit

As the reporter conducted the interview with the ISU Extension agronomist, he joked that maybe “all I need to do is get this story written and it will rain.”
Terry Basol couldn’t help but laugh.
“If that’s what it takes, let’s do a story every week.”
Yet, Basol remains worried that what has become a relatively prolonged drought may have already done its damage to corn and soybean fields despite the soaking Chickasaw County received early Sunday morning, Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Honestly, I’m not sure how much rain will actually help [increase yields],” he said last Friday. “The one thing it would do is it would help not make it any worse. There’s certainly a benefit, but in some ways, the damage has already been done and we’re not going to have the yields I think most of us thought, say in June, we would have.”
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s weekly report, which was released on Thursday, almost all of Iowa is experiencing some kind of drought conditions; in fact, only two counties — Winnebago and Worth — are not being affected by at least abnormally dry conditions.
— For more on this story, see the Sept. 8 Tribune and Sept. 15 Reporter