(DesMoines Register) – The condition of Iowa’s corn crop has worsened, but the state’s corn is in vastly better condition than some of its Corn Belt neighbors, a USDA report said Monday.
“The hot weather and drought may buy Iowa farmers another year of record prices and profits,” said Sal Gilbertie of Teucrium, a publicly traded grain investment fund.
Worries about crop conditions were felt Monday on the Chicago Board of Trade, where December corn covering this year’s crop gained 20 cents per bushel to $6.56, a nine-month high.
Soybeans gained 10 cents per bushel for the November new crop contract to $14.37.
The USDA report rated Iowa’s corn crop at 62 percent good to excellent, well below the 82 percent rating a year ago. Agronomists and traders normally consider 70 percent good to excellent ratings as standard for a good yield.
Illinois corn was rated just 26 percent good to excellent; Indiana, 19 percent; Missouri, 18 percent and Ohio, 33 percent.
Nebraska, with a 56 percent good to excellent rating, and Minnesota, where rains have fallen amply and which recorded a 72 percent good to excellent rating, joined Wisconsin as the only other states besides Iowa where at least half of the corn crop is in good condition.
The situation is similar for soybeans. Iowa’s good to excellent rating covers 59 percent of the crop, which is better than Nebraska, 45 percent; Illinois, 28 percent; Indiana, 20 percent; Ohio, 29 percent; Missouri, 18 percent and Wisconsin, 19 percent. Only Minnesota, with a 74 percent good to excellent rating, had a soybean crop rated better than Iowa’s.
Even so, Iowa remains dry. State climatologist Harry Hillaker said the statewide average rainfall last week through Sunday was 0.25 inches, while normal for the week is 1.15 inches.
The USDA report said “additional rain is needed to relieve stress on crops and improve conditions.”
Fifty-four percent of Iowa’s topsoil and subsoil is now rated inadequate. A year ago 100 percent of Iowa’s soils were moisture-adequate, which enabled the corn crop to pollinate to a nation-leading 172 bushels per acre yield despite a heat wave in mid-July.
