Crop conditions improve with significant southern rainfall
by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch
July 3, 2023
Rainfall totals of up to 6 inches in southern Iowa last week buoyed the state’s corn and soybean crops and reversed a weekslong downward trend of their conditions, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
About 61% of the state’s corn is rated good or excellent, up from this growing season’s low of 56% last week. Soybeans are rated 53% good or excellent, up from 48%.
“Though Independence Day is expected to be hot, outlooks are showing the potential for cooler and wetter conditions over the next few weeks, which is a pivotal period for soybean development and corn tasseling and pollination,” said Mike Naig, the state’s agriculture secretary.
The state’s overall drought is the worst it’s been since its last peak dryness in November, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor report last week. That report did not take into account much of the rainfall of last week.
The report noted a significant increase in the area of extreme drought in southeast Iowa, where conditions had rapidly deteriorated in recent weeks. That classification is the second-worst — next to exceptional drought — and was affecting some or all of eight counties.
About 89% of the state was in some degree of drought last week. A small area of northwest Iowa along the Minnesota border was the only place that was not abnormally dry or in drought.
However, the dry conditions are expected to greatly improve this month, according to a recent drought outlook from the federal Climate Prediction Center. It predicts that drought conditions will improve in all parts of the state and that drought might cease in about half of the currently affected areas.
The statewide precipitation average last week was slightly higher than normal, State Climatologist Justin Glisan reported.
However, there was a wide rainfall disparity between northwest Iowa — most of which had little or no precipitation — and far southern Iowa where the precipitation totals ranged from 2 to 6 inches across the entire Missouri border. The heaviest rain was recorded in far southeastern Iowa.
Despite the rain, only 22% of southwest Iowa’s topsoil has adequate topsoil moisture for growing crops, the USDA reported. South central Iowa has the best topsoil moisture in the state with 65% having adequate or surplus water.
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