The recent rains took a toll on harvest over the past week, limiting farmers to just 2.7 days on average in the field. “Several rounds of steady rain fell across much of Iowa, which improved drought conditions and helped recharge subsoil moisture, but slowed harvest progress,” says Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Naig. “A shift toward a colder weather pattern will likely bring a widespread killing freeze ending the growing season. Moving forward, dry outlooks could allow farmers to get back into the fields.” According to the Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending Oct. 31, the rains brought topsoil moisture levels up to an average of just 14 percent short to very short and subsoil to 35 percent short to very short. Soybean harvest has now reached 88 percent complete, two days ahead of the five-year average. There were several reports of soybeans lodging due to the damp weather. Seventy percent of the corn for grain crop has been harvested, four days ahead of the average. There were also scattered reports of downed corn due to strong winds. Moisture content of field corn was at 17 percent. The full Crop Progress and Condition Report can be found at nass.usda.gov.
