Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented today on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly from April through November.
“An active weather pattern returned to Iowa this past week, which brought much needed rainfall across the state,” said Secretary Naig. “Soybean harvest continues to make significant progress and should be wrapping up soon despite a soggy forecast.”
The weekly report is also available on the USDA’s website at nass.usda.gov.
Crop Report
Harvest was in full swing across Iowa until precipitation slowed progress over the weekend and limited farmers to 5.0 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending October 24, 2021, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Field activities continued to include harvesting soybeans and corn, fall tillage and applying fertilizer.
Sixty percent of Iowa’s corn for grain has been harvested, one week ahead of the five-year average. Producers across much of the State have approximately two-thirds of their corn crop harvested, while producers in northeast and south central Iowa have more than half remaining to be harvested. Moisture content of field corn being harvested for grain was 18 percent, unchanged from last week.
Soybean harvest reached 83 percent, six days ahead of the five-year average. Although soybean harvest in the southern one-third of the State is still lagging behind, farmers in each of the southern districts harvested 18 percent or more of their soybean crop during the week ending October 24, 2021.