Crop Progress and Condition for the Week Ending September 6, 2015.
Iowa farmers took advantage of the 4.9 days suitable for fieldwork to finish oat harvest, chop corn silage, and start seed corn harvest during the week ending September 6, 2015, though scattered but heavy showers kept some fields too wet to work, according the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Corn for grain continues to mature. There were some reports of pressure on corn from disease.
Topsoil moisture levels rated 0 percent very short, 6 percent short, 78 percent adequate and 16 percent surplus, unchanged from last week. Subsoil moisture levels rated 0 percent very short, 7 percent short, 78 percent adequate and 15 percent surplus. Heavier rains in central Iowa resulted in 36 percent surplus moisture.
Seventy-six percent of the corn crop was in the dent stage or beyond, with 10 percent mature, 3 days ahead of last year, but 9 days behind the 5-year average. Corn condition rated 79 percent good to excellent. Ninety-seven percent of soybeans were setting pods or beyond, while 33 percent of soybeans were turning color, 3 days ahead of 2014, but 1 day behind normal. Five percent of soybeans have begun dropping leaves. Soybean condition rated 76 percent good to excellent.
The third cutting of alfalfa hay is 76 percent complete, 12 days ahead of last year, but 5 days behind average. Pasture condition rated 64 percent good to excellent. Hot days resulted in heat stress for some livestock.
Weather Summary
Provided by Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist
Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship
It was an unseasonably warm and dry week across Iowa. The reporting week began with temperatures slightly above normal on Sunday (30th) and Monday (31st) but was very warm and humid for the remainder of the week. Daytime highs were mostly in the mid to upper eighties across northern Iowa and in the low- to mid-nineties across the south. Temperature extremes varied from Sunday (6th) afternoon highs of 96 degrees at Glenwood and Sidney to a Monday (31st) morning low of 55 degrees at Maquoketa.
Temperatures for the week as a whole averaged 10.0 degrees above normal, making this the warmest week of the year. Most of the week’s rain fell from southwest to north central Iowa on Tuesday (1st) night into Wednesday (2nd) morning with just a few southwest Iowa locations receiving over an inch of rain. Bedford reported the most rain with 1.44 inches while much of the northwest and southeast corners of the state recorded no measurable rain.
The statewide average precipitation was 0.16 inches while normal for the week is 0.84 inches. This was the driest week in 18 weeks (late April/early May). Locally heavy rain fell Sunday (6th) evening and Sunday night, particularly across central and south central Iowa, but fell too late to be reflected in this week’s crop statistics.
