July 13, 2011

 

Iowa's corn, soy crops receive positive ratings

 

 

Although Iowa's corn and soy are not keeping up with last year's pace and rainfall was less than average last week, the crops are still rated 80% good to excellent, according to USDA on Monday (Jul 11).

 

Heavy rainfall early Monday ended a week when precipitation was about six-tenths of an inch below the inch normal rainfall for this week of the year. But even before the rain, soil moisture was considered 80% adequate in Iowa.

 

"The rainfall was welcome, the high winds were not," Iowa State University Extension agronomist Roger Elmore said.

 

Many cornfields from central Iowa to Cedar Rapids along US Highway 30 were hit by winds in excess of 75mph.

 

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said "The severe weather that caused damage in central and eastern Iowa early Monday is not reflected in this report, and it is still too early to tell the extent of the crop damage, but hopefully many of the plants will be able to recover."

 

ISU Extension agent Rich Wrage of Marshalltown said there apparently was no hail with the high winds that blew through central Iowa before dawn, but the winds toppled some corn.

 

"Until six hours ago, this was a great crop in this area," Wrage said on Monday. "The corn was starting to tassel," he said of the process that begins the pollination of the corn plant.

 

The heaviest part of the storm appeared to follow US 30 as far east as Cedar Rapids. Damage was particularly hard near Slater north of Des Moines, where not only cornstalks were flattened but also grain bins ripped open.

 

"It is really sad because we had such a great crop going," said Sean Harmon of Ankeny, whose farming operations extend from Ankeny north to Wright and Humboldt counties.

 

The Extension service had not been able to determine how many acres were affected.

 

Elmore said all might not be lost for corn plants bent over by the winds. "If the corn has not tasseled yet, then it can right itself at least partially."

 

For that reason, the lateness of this year's corn crop, and the tasseling and silking that are just beginning this year compared with more than 20% last year, may be fortunate.

 

"The tasseling and silking are behind 2010 because last year the crop was planted earlier when we had the good early April weather," Elmore said. "This year, much of the Iowa crop was not in until May 10 or later."

 

Even so, Elmore said, the process of tasseling and silking, the respective male and female parts of the plant, should be on a normal schedule and be under way by the end of this week.

 

"A little rain and temperatures in the upper 80s or low 90s would be perfect," Elmore said.

 

The blooming of soy plants is similarly behind the 2010 pace, with 35% bloomed this year compared with 43% a year ago.

 

Iowa had experienced a spell of dry weather through early Monday when rains fell, but even before those rains the USDA rated almost 80% of the state's soil as having adequate moisture.

 

"This was Iowa's driest week in nine weeks," State Climatologist Harry Hillaker said.

 

Grain markets were unaffected by the weather damage on CBOT where corn for July delivery closed up 7 cents per bushel to US$6.81. December corn, which prices the corn now in the field, was down 4 cents per bushel to US$6.32.

 

Both July and November soy rose a half-cent per bushel to US$13.52 for July and US$13.47 for the November contract.

 

The USDA will issue its monthly world supply and demand report this morning.

 

Analysts expect the Agriculture Department to peg surplus corn stocks available as of September 1 at more than 900 million bushels, up from estimates as low as 675 million bushels this spring but still below the 1.7 billion bushels on hand a year ago.

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