Iowa Crop and Weather Report, November 2, 2014

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today commented on the Iowa crop progress and condition report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October.

“The weather was ideal this past week as it allowed fields to dry and farmers took advantage, with harvest progress reaching 61 percent of corn and 91 percent of soybeans. Corn harvest is now just 10 days behind the five year average and soybean harvest is now slightly ahead of average pace,” Northey said.

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 atwww.nass.usda.gov/ia. The report summary follows here:

Crop Report

Iowa farmers were able to harvest one-quarter of the State’s corn crop during the week ending November 2, 2014, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. There were 6.4 days suitable for fieldwork, the second most days suitable statewide this crop season. Other activities for the week included fall tillage, manure and fertilizer application, corn stalk baling, and hauling grain.

Topsoil moisture levels rated 0 percent very short, 4 percent short, 84 percent adequate, and 12 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated 1 percent very short, 5 percent short, 83 percent adequate, and 11 percent surplus. Southwest Iowa was the wettest with almost one-third of its topsoil and subsoil in surplus condition.

Sixty-one percent of Iowa’s corn acreage was harvested, 4 days behind 2013 and 10 days behind the five-year average. Moisture content of corn at harvest was estimated at 18 percent. Seventy-six percent of the corn crop was reported in good to excellent condition. Soybean harvest reached 91 percent complete, 3 days behind last year but a day ahead of normal. This was the first time this season soybean harvest was ahead of average.

Grain movement from farm to elevator was rated 60 percent moderate to heavy, increasing 2 percentage points from the previous week. Although off-farm grain storage availability was rate 89 percent adequate to surplus, a few elevators were running short on storage space or limiting incoming grain. On-farm grain storage availability was 83 percent adequate to surplus.

Hay and roughage supplies were estimated at 97 percent adequate to surplus. Livestock conditions were normal, with more cattle turned out on corn stalk fields.

IOWA PRELIMINARY WEATHER SUMMARY

By Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship

Iowa enjoyed its driest week in nearly two years. Only a handful of locations picked up any measurable rain with 0.05 inches near Badger (Webster County) being the most reported. The statewide average precipitation was a trace while normal for the week is 0.55 inches. The early portion of the week was unseasonably mild with daytime highs mostly in the sixties and seventies. Temperatures in far southwest Iowa soared into the eighties on Sunday (26th) with Sidney the warm spot at 85 degrees. A strong cold front moved into the state on Tuesday (28th) with daytime highs mostly in the forties for the remainder of the week across northern Iowa. There were scattered areas of freezing temperatures across western Iowa on Wednesday (29th) morning and northern Iowa on Thursday (30th) morning. However, a hard freeze impacted much of the northwestern two-thirds of Iowa on Friday (31st) morning and statewide on Saturday (1st) morning. The week’s lowest temperatures were reported across northeast Iowa on Saturday morning with 14 degree readings at Elkader and Stanley. The statewide average temperature for the week was 0.6 degrees below normal. Soil temperatures at the four inch depth were averaging in the mid-forties across most of Iowa as of Sunday (2nd).

Source: Iowa Dept of Ag.

Categories: Ag News