The state’s first crop progress and condition report of the season has been released with 3.3 days suitable for fieldwork for farmers last week. The fieldwork included planting oats, applying anhydrous and dry fertilizer.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 22 percent of oats have been planted in southeast Iowa.

State Climatologist Justin Glisan explains that April began with unseasonable wet conditions, with portions of northwest Iowa and southern Iowa reported over 200 percent of normal rainfall. At the same time, the state’s average temperature was about 2.6 degrees below normal at 40.7 degrees. The report indicates that topsoil moisture across Iowa was rated at 4 percent surplus, 68 percent adequate, 22 percent short, and 6 percent very short. Also, subsoil moisture conditions are rated at 1 percent surplus, 55 percent adequate, 34 percent short, and 10 percent very short.