Farmers have been trying to make up for lost time and get crops planted. According to the USDA, last week was the second in a row with mostly dry weather and 5.3 suitable days for fieldwork. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa recently met with farmers on a 12-town tour in southern Iowa, “Some farmers told me they only had three or four days capability of being in the field since Easter. So I hope they have crop insurance. They can apply for preventive planting under crop insurance, it’s 55% rate. They don’t have to put their seed, fertilizer, and chemicals on. It’s not going to make them whole, but it’s about the best that you can. And then probably most farms in Iowa have some of that same problem, maybe they got a good share of their crops in like we did at New Hartford, but still some preventive planting.”

Across the state 98% of the corn crop has been planted and 88% has emerged, more than two weeks behind last year and the five-year average. In southeast Iowa 97% of corn has been planted and 83% has emerged.

Iowa’s soybean crop is two weeks behind average with 89% planted. In southeast Iowa 82% of soybeans are planted and 40% have emerged. At this time last year 96% of soybeans had emerged.