Crops in mostly good condition despite heavy rain

Iowa's corn and soybean crops remain in mostly good condition, according to the Iowa Crops and Weather Report, despite heavy rains in some parts of the state last week.

Thunderstorms brought heavy rain to central Iowa early in the week, causing several flooding issues. Jasper, Polk, and Story counties were hit hardest with localities accumulating over 7 inches of rain. Flood waters were responsible for drowning out field crops.

While central Iowa battled flooding, parts of southwest Iowa are becoming dry, and could use rain before stress is put on crops, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Iowa also experienced high temperatures and humidity, ideal for developing crops, but stressful for livestock.

Iowa's corn and soybean crops continued to progress ahead of normal with the assistance of hot and humid weather. This week's forecast calls for drier days and slightly cooler temperatures, which will be good for crop development and overall crop condition.

Frequent rains have contributed to excellent hay growth, but have made harvesting difficult. As crops approach maturity, the Agriculture Department believes soil moisture is high enough to get Iowa farmers through the growing season. However, it could lead to a muddy harvest.

There were 3.5 days suitable for fieldwork last week, compared with 4.3 days the previous week. Southwest Iowa, at 6.4 days suitable, reported the highest number of days suitable in the state. Northeast Iowa reported the next highest number of days, at 4.4 days suitable, while central Iowa reported the lowest with 1.9 days suitable.

Ninety-three percent of the state's corn acres have reached milk stage, 70 percent have entered dough stage, and 27 percent of the crop have started to dent. All three conditions remain ahead of last year and the five-year average.

Corn condition decreased slightly to 4 percent very poor, 8 percent poor, 20 percent fair, 43 percent good, and 25 percent excellent.

Soybean condition also decreased slightly with 3 percent very poor, 8 percent poor, 20 percent fair, 44 percent good, and 25 percent excellent.

Oats harvested for grain increased 4 percent last week to 98 percent complete, 7 days ahead of last year and 3 days ahead of the five-year average.