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Iowa farmers back on track on eve of corn deadline

['Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- May']

Date: 2022-05-31 00:00:00


Corn farmers have erased their two-week lag in planting and, as of Sunday, kept pace with the state’s five-year average, according to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Tuesday.

Corn planting typically starts in mid April, but widespread rainfall across the state — with the exception of far northwest Iowa — delayed farmers for weeks.

They were two weeks behind schedule in early May, but the weather turned more favorable for field work and as of Sunday, 94% of the state’s corn crop was planted.

For the highest yields, corn in Iowa should be planted before mid May, according to Iowa State University research. Yield potential begins to taper more quickly in June. As such, Tuesday was the final day to plant corn in Iowa to get the highest insurance coverage.

Planting slowest in nine years

This year’s corn planting had the slowest start since 2013, which was among the lowest-producing years in the past two decades.

That year, farmers also planted the bulk of their corn seed in mid May after weeks of wet conditions but were unable to catch the five-year average and had between 85% and 88% of the crop planted by the end of that month, according to USDA reports from that season.

That growing season was drier than normal — although not as bad as 2012, which was the worst drought in decades in Iowa — and it finished with a hot September that helped the corn mature for harvest, USDA reports show.

In 2013, the state produced about 2.14 billion bushels of grain corn. The record total production was set in 2016 at 2.74 billion.

Iowa farmers have routinely produced more than 2 billion bushels since they breached the threshold in 2004, according to USDA data. They first crossed the billion bushel mark in 1971.

This season, about 73% of the state’s corn crop has emerged from the ground, which is about two days behind average. Weather forecasters have predicted a dryer-than-usual summer, but the rains earlier this year had driven drought conditions from most of the state. About 89% of the state’s topsoil has adequate or surplus moisture, Tuesday's USDA report said.

“Recent rainfall across the state has helped to push the crop along as farmers are approaching the end of planting,” said Mike Naig, the state’s agriculture secretary. “Short-term outlooks, through the first week of June, show better chances of rainfall paired with cooler temperatures.”

This year’s late planting means that a lot of the corn crop won’t reach its highest potential, said Mark Licht, an ISU Extension cropping systems specialist, but favorable growing conditions might prevent a lower production year similar to 2013.

Soybean planting had also been delayed but has now surpassed the five-year average. On Sunday, 85% of the state’s soybean crop had been planted, which was six days ahead of the average.

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