DES MOINES— The Iowa Crop Progress and Condition report has been released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October.
“It was another good week for harvest and now 67 percent of corn and 92 percent of beans are in the bin. Corn harvest remains nine days behind the five year average and beans are six days behind. Hopefully we can get a couple of more weeks of agreeable weather to allow farmers to finish harvest and complete other fall field work,” said Mike Naig, Iowa Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.
The weekly report is also available on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship's website at www.IowaAgriculture.gov or on USDA's site at www.nass.usda.gov/ia. The report summary follows here:
Crop Report
Dry weather for most of the week allowed many Iowa farmers to make good progress with harvest during the week ending Nov. 5, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Statewide there were 5.7 days suitable for fieldwork. A wide variety of activities were performed during the week, including drying and hauling grain, baling corn stalks, tillage and applying manure and fertilizers.
Topsoil moisture levels rated 3 percent very short, 8 percent short, 83 percent adequate and 6 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated 6 percent very short, 17 percent short, 72 percent adequate and 5 percent surplus.
Sixty-seven percent of the corn for grain crop has been harvested, nine days behind the five-year average. Moisture content of corn being harvested for grain averaged 17 percent. Farmers in all nine Iowa districts have completed harvest of over half of their corn for grain crop with southeast Iowa farmers leading the way with 77 percent harvested. Ninety-two percent of the soybean crop has been harvested, three days behind last year and six days behind average.
Cattle and calves continue to feed on stover with limited amounts of hay being fed. Feedlots have started to dry out.
Weather Summary
By Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship
It was a cold week with precipitation totals below normal statewide. Temperatures were well below normal for the first one-half of the week before moderating to near normal by the weekend. A series of light precipitation events crossed the state, each mainly impacting northern and eastern Iowa, on Sunday (29th) afternoon and evening, Monday (30th), Wednesday (1st), Friday (3rd) night into Saturday (4th) morning and finally on Sunday (5th) morning. Weekly precipitation totals varied from only sprinkles over about the southwest one-quarter of the state to 0.39 inches at Estherville. The statewide average precipitation was 0.10 inches while normal for the week is 0.55 inches. Daytime highs were mostly in the forties throughout the week, excepting on Sunday (29th) when temperatures briefly climbed into the sixties over the far southwest where Sidney reached 68 degrees. The most widespread cold came on Tuesday (31st) morning when Sheldon and Spencer recorded lows of 14 degrees. Temperatures for the week as a whole averaged 6.1 degrees below normal.