PRST STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID OMAHA, NE PERMIT NO. 36
Section
A
Volume VI, Issue 11
NOVEMBER 2013
Near the end
Farmers in western Iowa have had to harvest between days of rainfall and drying weather. Yields throughout western Iowa have been variable. High-yielding fields were planted under favorable conditions and weathered a dry growing season in good condition. Photo by Bruce A. Binning
Reports show harvest behind but yields satisfactory in some areas
by Greg Forbes The crop season is near the end as harvest efforts are in full force throughout Iowa. Harvest may come as a welcome sight to many as inclement weather wreaked havoc on operations from beginning to end, with snow in May and heavy windstorms in early October. Weather affected parts of Iowa differently. Some regions received far too much rain in the spring while others received hardly any during the summer months. Field agronomists with Iowa State University Extension took time to fill out questionnaires for The Iowa Farm and Ranch in order to illustrate harvest progression and the weather’s effect on
“The tale that is you plant between rains, you’ll harvest between rains has definitely been true this year.” ~ ISU Extension Field Agronomist Mark Licht
yields in western Iowa. Following are the questions and their answers: How is the harvest progressing? Mark Licht, service area in central Iowa including Carroll, Guthrie, Greene, Dallas
and Boone counties: Licht said soybean harvest in his area is nearly complete as farmers pushed to remove soybeans from fields prior to forecasted rainfall. He added, “Corn harvest is progressing slowly between rains but generally
speaking, I’d say central Iowa is about 60 percent complete.” Clarke McGrath, service area in west central Iowa: McGrath also said soybean harvest is all but finished and corn is between 60 to 70 percent harvested. “We’d be further along but the wet grain and drying challenges have bottlenecked things quite a bit,” he explained. Joel DeJong, service area in northwest Iowa including Lyon, Sioux, Woodbury and Cherokee counties: DeJong estimated corn to be 50 percent harvested in his area. HARVEST, Page 14A