(Radio Iowa & Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The U-S-D-A crop report says warm weather helped crops mature and the early harvest is running ahead of last year. The report says 15 percent of the corn is harvested statewide — four days ahead of last year and three ahead of five-year average. The southeast district leads with 32 percent of the corn harvested, followed by 23 in the southwest and 21 in the central district. The northeast and west-central districts are the only ones not in double digits. The statewide soybean harvest is at 17 percent, three days ahead of last year and two ahead of average. The northwest district has the most beans in the bin at 25 percent, with the central and west central next at 19. All districts are in double digit percentages for beans.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said farmers should continue “making harvest headway” this week with nice weather in the forecast, though “conditions may be a bit dusty.”  “Combines are rolling all across Iowa,” Naig said in a statement. Temperatures for the reporting period were 8.1 degrees above the climatological normal, which according to the report, “quickly advanced crop maturity.”

Despite a below-normal weekly precipitation average of just 0.41 inch, soil moisture conditions remain mostly adequate. Sixty-five percent of topsoil moisture and 70% of subsoil moisture conditions were adequate for the reporting period. Southern regions of the state were slightly drier than the state average, while central and northern regions were slightly wetter.  In southeast Iowa, according to the report, just 33% of topsoil had adequate moisture, while the majority, 66% of topsoil was short or very short of moisture.

According to the seven-day precipitation forecast posted Monday by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa is projected to receive less than half an inch of rain for the week.