Moderate drought has gripped a substantial swath of southern Iowa, and the state’s corn and soybeans recently rated their poorest yet this year, according to a Monday report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
About 73% of the state’s corn crop is rated good or excellent, down from 76% a week ago, the USDA report said. About 71% of soybeans were rated the same, down from 73% last week.
Those declines were the result of miserably warm weather: The state averaged about 5 degrees above normal last week, according to Justin Glisan, the state climatologist for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Sioux City notched the hottest temperature of the week at 102 degrees on Aug. 2.
Rainfall was highly variable, with very little for central and southern Iowa, Glisan reported. Most of Dallas County had no rain last week, whereas Manchester in northeast Iowa had nearly 5 inches.
“Temperatures are looking to be warmer than average with only minor chances of rain over the coming weeks,” said Mike Naig, the state’s agriculture secretary. “With these persistent conditions, we continue to monitor drought across northwestern and southern Iowa.”
The percentage of Iowa in drought status nearly doubled in the U.S. Drought Monitor’s report late last week, from about 17% to about 31%. Much of that gain was attributable to southern Iowa, where moderate drought expanded from a preexisting pocket in far southeast Iowa to parts of far southwest Iowa.
The worst of the drought continues to plague northwest Iowa near Sioux City. Joel DeJong, an Iowa State University Extension field agronomist who monitors that area, said Sioux City’s rainfall deficit since April 2021 is about 15 inches.
The stress on crops is evident, he said, because corn leaves are curling and soybean leaves are flipping during the hottest parts of the days to conserve water. That also stunts growth during crucial periods of development for the crops.
“We’re going to see some kernel abortion going on,” DeJong said of the corn.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
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