PRST STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID OMAHA, NE PERMIT NO. 36
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Volume VIII, Issue 7
July 2014
Weathering the extremes
Following torrential rains during June, areas of flooding dotted the landscapes of western Iowa. The photo above was taken from the top of the MaxYield Cooperative in Mallard, facing west of the town. Photo submitted
Some fields doing well, others battered by rain, wind and hail compiled by Gordon Wolf Iowa farmers continued to work around the weather as more rain fell throughout the state last week. For the week ending July 6, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that only 2.6 days were suitable for field work, on a statewide average. It marked the third consecutive week with less than three suitable days for field work. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker with the Iowa Department of Agriculture said in his weekly weather summary that heavy rains fell across the state for the third consecutive week. Rain during the week ending July 6 fell more in the central one-third of the state, particularly across the east central sections of Iowa. He said that high winds and/or large hail was reported from 24 counties on June 29 and from 41 counties on June 30, and every county between Interstate 80 and Highway 20 reported severe weather on one or both of those days.
NASS rated statewide crop conditions for the week ending July 6 as follows. Corn: 2% very poor, 5% poor, 17% fair, 53% good and 23% excellent Soybeans: 2% very poor, 6% poor, 19% fair, 55% good and 18% excellent Hay: 1% very poor, 5% poor, 27% fair, 51% good and 16% excellent Pasture and range: 1% very poor, 3% poor, 22% fair, 54% good and 2% excellent Oats: 0% very poor, 3% poor, 24% fair, 60% good and 13% excellent Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Clarke McGrath said “struggling” was the best term he could use to describe how the crops were doing in the southwest and west central Iowa counties he serves. “While some areas are doing pretty well, for the most part southwest and west central Iowa has been battered by wind, hail, and now an overabundance of rain,” McGrath said in a report emailed to
Iowa Farm & Ranch. He added that excessive rains, especially heavy rains that fell in a short amount of time, created many ditches, blown-out terraces and soil erosion. “Ditches and terrace blow-outs are unfortunate since guys have to try to farm through them the rest of the season and then fix them after harvest,” McGrath said. “Since they can be pretty well hidden in crop canopy, we’ve seen bent and broken equipment or even tractors or grain carts upset by some of these ditches.” He continued the soil erosion that occurred will have a long-term effect on crop productivity as it takes decades to replace what can be lost in just one rain storm. The heavy rains also caused concern about nitrogen loss. Options for remedies at this stage of the growing season are few. FLOODING, Page 3A
A field on the east side of Woodbury County road L36 near Correctionville shows effects of flooding from the Little Sioux River on June 22. Photo by Gordon Wolf