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Saturday, June 28, 2014

June 27 2014

Day 2 started in Ames, IA. From Ames I traveled west through Boone to Grand Junction.  This area was the recipient of about 2" of rain on the 26th. The corn looked very good, but a very small water holes were starting to show.  My opinion is that a few water holes makes a big crop come fall.  Much like the day before the crop progress was V-10 to V-14. I saw no reason that the corn in Greene County Iowa should be anything but great.  Conversely the soybean crop looked a little less than perfect.  The weather to this point of the year has really accentuated the iron chlorosis in many fields.  Usually not a big problem, iron chlorosis gives an appearance of excess moisture stress.  The yellowing  of plants was obvious in nearly every field, some worse than others.  The crop was all V-2 to V-4 in the area.

From Grand Junction I continued west to Jefferson then about 25 miles north to Callendar, Iowa. This is about 15 miles southwest of Fort Dodge.  At this point of the day (9:30), it began what was the pattern for the remainder of the day...rain.  The corn and soybeans looked similar to my first stop.  Great looking corn with a few small water logged areas and soybeans that needed sunshine and heat but looking ok.  In my discussion with a local farmer, his thought was this was the best growing corn crop on a few years. I couldn't disagree with that statement. Corn was similar height to other areas but more even that some areas.  I didn't see a bad field of corn in a 10 miles radius as we drove around. He did talk about the difficulty controlling water hemp in this area.  It was obvious that the chemical program has included a "burner" post pass.  I saw about 20% of the fields that had been sprayed recently and showing the effects of the chemistry.  Having been away from that sensation for several years, it did bring back memories of why I didn't like that choice of herbicides. But it appears to be a necessary evil in this part of the Cornbelt at this point in time.

As I continued to travel north to the Fort Dodge area and then back East on Route 20 towards Iowa Falls, the rain continued, very heavy at times.  The further I traveled East the worse the fields looked.  As I crossed into Hardin County, there were fields of corn and soybeans showing significant water stress.  I later found out that this was an area that had received 5-6" of rain last week.  It coupled with this weeks rain  has actually hurt the low lying areas of the fields. Corn that was V-5 to V-8 was dead or dying from the excess water in those low lying parts of the fields.  Soybeans were suffering the same fate.  As I turned South towards my stop North of Eldora, I saw signs that this area south of 20 had 1. Received less heavy rain or 2. The heavy rains had gotten away faster. The stop and conversation in Eldora was in a bean field. Beans looked very good (average V-4).  There were some areas of the field with standing water from the previous days rainfall, but it didn't appear to damage the crop.  I still saw the iron chlorosis in this area but it didn't seem quite as pronounced as earlier in the day.  The corn in southern Hardin County looked solid, but as stated above there were a few areas of actual crop loss due to excess rain this past couple of weeks.

Next I traveled straight South back towards Nevada Iowa.  The rain started to subside but there was several fields with water standing in the rows.  Not a bad thing unless they continue to get more rain over the next few days (oh by the way, that was the forecast for the weekend).  Corn and soybean progress was a near cookie cutter to the beginning of the day.  Corn looked very good, beans with iron chlorosis need sunshine and heat, but look ok.

The day ended after what was a 250 mile circle around Ames to the north.  While I talked about moisture excess, I believe this area at this time of year has great prospects for yields.  I would echo the thoughts from everyone that I have talked to on the trip, there are more soybeans planted this year than in the past. What to take away, get your beans sold.  I think we are in for a big crop due to big acres.  A great corn crop is going to produce a big yield per acre, but maybe it won't be so burdensome on the balance sheet since we have less acres.  Does it sound like I don't have enough corn sold before the report on Monday?  That would be correct.  I am officially in the hope phase of my corn marketing plan!

Day 3 will include travel back to Champaign through central Iowa and along 74 through Western Il.  A stop in Knox Co. IL to be sure.

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