Despite recent rain, conditions during most of July have been hot and dry which is impacting area crops.

According to the National Weather Service, in the first 25 days of July Washington received 2.65 inches, about an inch below the normal amount. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Field Agronomist Meaghan Anderson says corn production will likely be impacted, “Portion of southeastern Iowa are quite a bit drier than we’d like them to be. So I think we’re going to see some of these effects of this heat and this drought stress when it comes to grain-fill, and how many kernels these ears are going to have on them, but really only time will tell what actually is going to happen with these crops.”

Currently Iowa’s corn crop is rated at eight percent very poor to poor, 24% is fair, 55% is good, and 13% is excellent. In southeast Iowa, 68% of corn is silking, slightly behind the five-year average of 69%.