As we transition into August, crops across the state of Iowa are looking good.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says drought conditions continued to expand across western Iowa over the latter part of July. Despite areas of the state seeing dryness, Naig says the broad overview of crop conditions is looking really good in Iowa.
?Of course, we all know that we had a great start to the year,? Naig said. ?Since then ? and certainly in western Iowa ? we have seen some dryness. We now have D2 (severe) drought conditions touching 15 counties predominantly in western Iowa and D1 (moderate) drought stretching down into southwest Iowa. We know we need some rain to finish this crop off. However, we do think crop conditions are surprisingly good ? all things being equal.?
Naig says it?s critically important for the areas impacted by D2 drought conditions to receive timely rain showers over the next few weeks.
?Right now, we?ve got pollination going on and as we start to fill, those will all be things that are much dependent on having adequate moisture and temperatures,? Naig said. ?We know that a timely rain, and again we?re hopeful over the next few days that we can catch some rain in southern and western Iowa. We definitely need that.?
?We?re starting to see the impact, and we have over the last couple of weeks,? he continued. ?I?ve been hearing from a lot of folks since I?ve been traveling in western Iowa and have seen it myself. We just know that a timely rain is critically important for this crop to develop.?
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday morning showed nearly the same area of west-central Iowa in severe drought conditions, while a new area in far northwest Iowa is now in severe drought impacting three counties. Drought conditions did improve slightly across southern Iowa compared to last week.
