Harvest to be mixed across state, Iowa agriculture secretary says

URBANDALE - Iowa's farm sector is facing an economic 'readjustment” brought on by depressed grain prices and sluggish export activity, state Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said Wednesday.

'Whether you're a landlord or a tenant out there, there's going to be a lot of tough conversations about what does readjustment look like? What are those new prices, and no one knows for sure what the future is,” Northey told a breakfast gathering of the Westside Conservative Club.

Economic forecasters have predicted a 36 percent drop in net farm income for 2015. That's due in part to uncertainty in international markets and a bumper harvest that likely will keep corn and soybean prices down, he said.

Added to that is nervousness within the Iowa poultry industry over the possible return of the bird flu. Northey said farmers and government agencies are better prepared now to respond.

Harvest activities are just getting underway in parts of Iowa, Northey said. He said production expectations appear to be 'all over the board,” with northwest counties looking good but not southern areas.

'We're going to have places that are going to have some of their best yields ever, and we're going to have some places that will have some of their poorest yields ever. I guess that's the nature of farming to some degree,” Northey said.

Northey said some Iowa counties got too much water during the growing season and left up to 20,000 acres unplanted. The fields that did get planted, he added, look 'pretty tough.” But other parts of Iowa experienced ideal growing conditions and have 'absolutely gorgeous crops,” he said.

'It's not a crop until you've got it in the bin, and it's certainly not income until you've got it sold,” Northey said.

Northey said he has received reports that crops in Missouri and Indiana aren't great while Minnesota and parts of northern Illinois look good. He said he expects Iowa to lead the nation in corn production and could supplant Illinois for the lead in soybean production.