(A report by the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Iowa farmers are gearing up for harvest season, as the latest crop progress and condition report notes 9% of corn acres across the state have reached maturity and farmers have scattered reports of soybeans dropping leaves. The crops continue to develop, with 63% of corn acres across the state now dented and 19% of soybeans coloring, for the reporting period of Aug. 25 through Aug. 31.  Corn condition was rated at 84% good to excellent, the same as last week, while soybean condition at 77% good to excellent declined slightly from the week prior. The report, written by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, reported that the oat harvest in Iowa was “virtually complete” and farmers were nearly complete with their third cutting of alfalfa hay, with just 13% remaining.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said farmers will be busy this month bailing hay, chopping silage and “beginning to gear up for harvest.” “Now is also a great time to plan for seeding cover crops and adding other conservation practices to fields after harvest,” Naig said in a statement.  Naig also noted the cool, dry conditions across the state that led to a “gorgeous holiday weekend.”  According to State Climatologist Justin Glisan, the state average temperature for the reporting period was 65 degrees Fahrenheit, which was more than 6 degrees below normal temperatures for the period.  Several areas reported temperatures as low as 40 degrees during the period.

Corn is beginning to reach maturity in Iowa. (Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

While some eastern areas of the state had a couple inches of rain, the state average for the week was less than two-tenths of an inch, while the normal is 0.88 inch.  Despite the less-than-an-inch of rain the past several reporting periods, soil moisture conditions remain adequate to surplus. Across the state, topsoil moisture conditions were 78% adequate and 12% surplus. Subsoil moisture conditions were similar with 79% adequate and 13% surplus.  Soil conditions were driest in the southwest and southeast regions of the state. In those regions, around 30% of topsoil moisture was short, according to the report.

According to the seven-day precipitation forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the majority of the state is forecast to receive less than half an inch of rain this week.