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Rough start to growing season for Iowa farmer

North central Iowa farmer April Hemmes says the growing season is off to a rough start.

“I was in the area where a lot of people had to replant. I was very fortunate (because) I only had to replant about 30 acres of corn, and I spiked in some soybeans too.”

She tells Brownfield dry conditions through mid-April turned excessively wet.

“We got a real pounding rain (around) that Easter timeframe. It was a tilled field and it just, half of it leafed out underground. So I had a population of 16,000 and I decided to rip it up and replant it.”

Hemmes says crops are recovering and her early planted corn looks beautiful.

USDA’s latest weekly crop update shows 84 percent of Iowa’s corn crop and 80 percent of soybeans statewide rated in good to excellent condition.

The first cutting of alfalfa is nearly 90 percent complete, with the second cutting at 16 percent as of Sunday.