From The Iowa Ag Secretary Office:
KHBT — The Iowa Crop Progress report shows good news for Iowa farmers this week.
Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says that “many farmers were able to get back into their fields this past week, but we still remain well behind the five-year average. The 29 percent of corn harvested is 4 days behind average and the 37 percent of beans harvested puts us 12 days behind.”
“Our farmers can make tremendous progress in a week if conditions allow. Farmers harvested 65 percent of soybeans in a single week back in 2013 and 30 percent of corn in a week in both 1993 and 2013. So, hopefully the drier weather stays in place and farmers can start to catch up” he explained.
Twenty-nine percent of the State’s corn for grain crop has been harvested, 3 days ahead of last year but 4 days behind the five-year average.
Farmers in southeast Iowa have neared the halfway point of corn for grain harvest while farmers in the northeast have not yet harvested one-fifth of their corn for grain. Moisture content of field corn being harvested was at 19 percent. Corn condition rated 68 percent good to excellent. Soybean harvest was 37 percent complete, 12 days behind the average. This is the smallest percentage of the soybean crop harvested by October 21 since 1985. Soybean condition rated 65 percent good to excellent.