Minnesota and Iowa continue to be garden spots with crop conditions at levels similar to last year, suggesting another possible bumper crop. In Minnesota soybeans were rated 78-percent good to excellent, with corn at 84-percent, up two-percent from last week. In Iowa 81-percent of the soybeans are in good to excellent condition, with corn at 82-percent which is up a percent. Winfield U.S. Agronomist Al Bertelsen says row crops have been benefiting from ample moisture for July and could match last year’s outstanding yield.
Bertelsen says even corn that was pollinating last week during the heat wave came through in good shape in Iowa and Minnesota.
He says so far there has been very little disease or insect pressure in soybeans. However, farmers should be scouting their fields as this is the time of season soybean aphids and spider mites can be a problem.
Corn is showing some signs of disease, like common rust, in areas that had excessive moisture early in the season. Bertelsen says one of the other hidden problems this year has been soil compaction.
