Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Crop report: Wet conditions limit field work
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
DES MOINES — Rain on and off throughout the week limited farmers to 3.8 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending July 13, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Wet conditions made field activities difficult.
Topsoil moisture condition rated 6% short, 71% adequate and 23% surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 1% very short, 9% short, 74% adequate and 16% surplus.
Corn silking reached 36%, one day behind last year, but one day ahead of normal. Five percent of Iowa’s corn reached the dough stage. Corn condition rated 1% very poor, 2% poor, 12% fair, 58% good and 27% excellent.
Soybeans blooming reached 54%, three days ahead of last year but equal to the five-year average. Eighteen percent of soybeans were setting pods, four days ahead of last year and three days ahead of the five-year average.
Soybean condition rated 1 percent very poor, 2% poor, 18% fair, 59% good and 20% excellent. Ninety-six percent of Iowa’s oat crop was headed and 71% of oats were turning color.
Oats harvested for grain reached 19% complete. Oat condition rated 0% very poor, 1% poor, 13% fair, 71% good and 15% excellent.
The State’s second cutting of alfalfa hay reached 66% complete while 7% of the third cutting was completed. Hay condition rated 83% good to excellent. Pasture condition rated 75% good to excellent.
Weather Summary provided by Justin Glisan, Ph.D., State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
With ample moisture transport into the Upper Midwest persisting, Iowa experienced another anomalously wet and active week. A band of two to four inches above-normal rainfall ran west to east across Iowa.
Warmth continued over the state’s southeastern half with near normal conditions northwest; the statewide average temperature was 74.1 degrees, 0.6 degree below normal.
Weekly precipitation totals ranged from 0.40 inch at Fort Atkinson (Winneshiek County) to 6.77 inches in Asbury (Dubuque County). The statewide weekly average precipitation was 2.37 inches; the normal is 1.05 inches.
Multiple southern stations reported the week’s high temperature of 92 degrees July 11, six degrees above normal. Audubon (Audubon County) reported the week’s low temperature of 53 degrees July 13, nine degrees below normal.
