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Wet September threatens to delay harvest in Iowa

A potentially historic stretch of wet weather is expected to set harvest back in Iowa.

Iowa State University Extension field agronomist Angie Rieck-Hinz covers the north-central part of the state and says.

“We are, sadly to say, on track for one of our wettest Septembers we’ve seen in recent years if not the wettest September in parts of Iowa.”

She tells Brownfield a lot has changed the past two weeks.

“A week (to) ten days ago people were getting ready to combine, there were actually people in the field. Things looked good, soil conditions were good, we weren’t going to leave ruts, crop maturity was right where we wanted it. And all of a sudden we’ve hit this extended rainy period.”

Rieck-Hinz says it will be a while before conditions are fit to resume harvest, and stalk quality concerns are rising.

“And we started seeing these stalk quality concerns way back in early August, and as usual we always tell people to get out and push stalks, prioritize stalks. Not only do we have crown rot out there in corn, we have stalk rots in corn.”

USDA’s latest weekly crop update shows corn harvest at 4 percent in Iowa, compared to the five-year average of 5 percent.  Soybeans are 2 percent harvested, slightly behind the usual pace of 5 percent.