About 47% of the state’s corn crop has emerged from the ground. (Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
The pace of corn and soybean planting accelerated last week amid a rainfall reprieve for much of the state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Farmers planted more than a fifth of the overall expected acres for each crop that week and edged closer to their typical planting schedule, but they are still four days delayed for corn and two days for soybeans.
“We haven’t had a lot of long stretches to get some planting done,” said Rebecca Vittetoe, an Iowa State University Extension field agronomist who monitors part of eastern Iowa. “When they are able to be in the field, they’re running as long as they can.”
Planting in April had a quick start before consecutive weeks of above-average rainfall. Last week, the state averaged about 0.65 inches of rain — a little more than half of what is typically expected.
The heaviest precipitation was in the southern third of the state, where totals eclipsed 3 inches. Other areas of the state had almost no rain.
That has created great disparity in Vittetoe’s region, where counties that lie north of last week’s precipitation line are about 90% planted for corn, and those to the south that had heavy rain might be about 60%, she estimated.
Statewide, about 78% of the state’s corn crop had been planted as of Sunday, and the optimal last day for planting has passed. Potential yields typically start declining precipitously for corn planting in the coming weeks, according to ISU research.
About 61% of soybeans had been planted as of Sunday. Their yields also start to decline but not as fast as corn.
“We’re passed the big point of concern that we had maybe a week ago,” said Angie Rieck-Hinz, an Extension field agronomist in north-central Iowa. “There will always be people who haven’t started, but for a vast majority of acres, we’re in pretty good shape.”
Some of the field work is likely to be interrupted by significant rainfall that is predicted overnight Monday until Tuesday evening.
“There will be several rounds of thunderstorms with heavy rainfall, pretty widespread across the northern two-thirds of the state,” said Mike Fowle, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “You could see 4 to 5-plus inches of rain in some places.”
The Weather Service has issued a flood warning for half of the state’s counties.
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