News

Eastern Iowa farmer: ‘I’ve never experienced these extremes’

An eastern Iowa farmer says the growing season has been full of extremes.

Billie Danner grows corn and soybeans near West Liberty.

“Really dry, really wet. Really cold, really hot. I’ve never really experienced these extremes in my career like this.”

He tells Brownfield crops are trying to bounce back after heavy rains late last month.

“Three weeks ago we had about 10 inches of rain within about an 8 to 10-day period, we’ve got some small holes in fields. Overall the crop looks really good right now, but we’re about 50 percent irrigated and we’re starting to run water.”

USDA’s latest weekly crop update rates 78 percent of corn and 74 percent of soybeans in good to excellent condition statewide.

Corn silking reached 38 percent, and 16 percent of soybeans are at the pod-setting stage.