News 5 November 2017

Farmers hoping Mother Nature cooperates

The corn and bean harvest is about two weeks behind schedule in northern Iowa, but ISU Extension Field Agronomist Terry Basol said that’s about what he expected.
“The cooler weather in August slowed the development of the corn,” said Basol, who is based out of Nashua. “The good news is, there was little or no stress on the corn, so the corn plant was able to maximize the dry matter accumulation in the kernel. That has helped the yield.”
According to the latest report from the Iowa Department of Agriculture, nearly a quarter of the corn for grain crop has been harvested, reaching 44 percent complete, but it still remains nearly two weeks behind the 5-year average. Moisture content of corn being harvested for grain averaged 19 percent. East central and southeast Iowa are the only districts to have over 50 percent of their corn for grain crop harvested.
“Farmers were again able to make good harvest progress, combining over 20 percent of the state’s corn and soybean crop last week, but still remain behind the five-year average,” said Mike Naig, Iowa Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, in this week’s report. 

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“Other parts of the state planted a week to a week and a half earlier than we did in our part of the state,” said Basol. 
 
For more of this article, see Friday's New Hampton Tribune.

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