State agencies continue to monitor drought conditions across Iowa. “Unseasonably warm temperatures and limited rainfall led to an increase in drought conditions across the state,” says Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Naig. “Early planted crops are starting to show moisture stress, and the short-term forecast shows only minor chances of precipitation.” Topsoil moisture levels for the past week saw zero surplus with 24 percent rated very short and 46 percent short. These increased from 39 percent to 70 percent over the week while subsoil moisture conditions in northwest, north central, west central and south central Iowa rated close to 80 percent short to very short. According to the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending June 13, the lack of precipitation has resulted in Iowa’s corn condition dropping by 14 percentage points, from 77 percent good to excellent down to 63 percent. Soybeans saw a similar decrease in the good to excellent category, dropping 12 percentage points to 61 percent. There were an estimated 6.6 days suitable for field work last week for activities including planting, spraying post emergence herbicides, side dressing nitrogen and harvesting hay. The full report can be found at nass.usda.gov.
