Harvest continues at rapid pace despite wet week

About 77% of the state’s corn crop had been harvested as of Sunday — along with about 94% of soybeans — after an abnormally wet week for the eastern half of the state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

An average of about two-thirds of an inch of rain fell across Iowa last week, yet farmers had an average of about six days during the week that were suitable for field work, the USDA reported Monday.

The state’s corn harvest is nine days ahead of the five-year average, and the soybean harvest is about 10 days ahead.

“The widespread and badly needed rain during the last week did very little to slow down corn and soybean harvest, which continues at a pace well ahead of the five-year average,” said Mike Naig, the state’s agriculture secretary. “Though the recent warmer weather has been good for both trick-or-treating and field work, a wetter forecast looks possible for the end of this week and through early November.”

The 0.66 inches of rain that fell statewide was higher than the usual 0.54 inches for the week, State Climatologist Justin Glisan reported Monday. The rainfall was highly variable: Parts of northwest Iowa had almost no rain, whereas parts of Fayette County in northeast Iowa had nearly 2 inches.

Drought conditions in the state had continued to worsen and were approaching their worst in nine years before that rainfall, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s report late last week.

About 88% of the state was suffering from some degree of drought, and a tiny pocket of extreme drought — the worst dryness condition — expanded significantly in Woodbury County near the Nebraska border.

Livestock pastures have suffered from drought, and just 25% are rated good or excellent, the USDA reported. Less than a third of the state’s cropland has adequate soil moisture.

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