Be on the lookout for farm machinery as harvest continues

Oct 17, 2024

Farmers harvest soybeans on a farm west of Cedar Falls.

DES MOINES – Continued dry weather and above-normal temperatures allowed Iowa farmers 6.8 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending Sunday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Field activities included harvesting corn and soybeans, baling corn stalks, applying manure and fertilizers, and fall tillage. Fire danger in fields remains a threat.

“Warm and dry conditions continued across much of the state last week, providing a window for significant harvest progress,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. “Despite cooler temperatures, mostly dry conditions are expected to persist in the week ahead, allowing harvest activity to steadily roll on. However, outlooks into the second half of October show rainfall potential.”

“As harvest continues, I encourage drivers to be on the lookout for farm machinery on the roads at all hours of the day and night. Please slow down and share the road to keep drivers and farmers safe this fall,” Naig said.

Topsoil moisture condition rated 35% very short, 41% short, 24% adequate and 0% surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 27% very short, 45% short, 28% adequate and 0% surplus.

Corn reached 97% mature or beyond. Corn harvested for grain reached 45%, three days ahead of last year and six days ahead of the five-year average. Corn moisture content fell 2 percentage points to 16%. Corn condition rated 76% good to excellent. Soybeans dropping leaves or beyond reached 98%. Nearly one-quarter of the soybean crop was harvested during the week ending October 13 reaching 81% complete, six days ahead of last year and 10 days ahead of the average. Farmers in south central Iowa remain considerably behind farmers in the rest of the state with just 54% of their soybean crop harvested.

Pasture condition fell 8 percentage points to just 30% good to excellent this week. Livestock water resources continue to recede.

The second reporting period of October was the driest of the year with only a few stations reporting trace amounts of rainfall, according to Justin Glisan, state climatologist with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. October so far is running just under 10% of normal precipitation. Warm conditions also continued with temperatures up to six degrees warmer than normal in western Iowa; the statewide average temperature was 59.6 degrees, 5.4 degrees above normal.

Weekly precipitation totals ranged from no accumulation across the vast majority of Iowa to trace amounts at a handful of stations. There was no measurable weekly statewide average precipitation; the normal is 0.60 inch. Osceola (Clarke County) and Shenandoah (Page County) reported the week’s high temperature of 89 degrees on the 11th, 21 degrees above normal. Mapleton (Monona County) reported the week’s low temperature of 28 degrees on the 7th, 13 degrees below normal.

Get the daily forecast and severe weather alerts in your inbox!

As colder weather beckons, now is the time to save your plants, tackle your soil, harvest the last of your summer veg and protect crops during…

Severe weather, including tornadoes, threaten the Great Plains and Midwest Monday into Tuesday.