This spring has given Iowa an interesting start to the 2024 growing season. On the one hand, we know that the rains slowed down planting progress, but we also needed the rains to replenish the drought-stricken soils and give our crops a fighting chance to have a less stressful year than in years past. However, that moisture has also come with an unwelcome cost, and many acres need to be replanted.
Drowned-out and low spots dot the landscape from Atlantic to Dubuque and all points in between. It’s a little bit frustrating, especially since we don’t have a new Farm Bill in place, and these challenges are being handled with data and programs that are at least 6 years old. But that is a topic for another time.
I had the chance to sit down with Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig, who also farms in North-Central Iowa. We talked about how farmers in some areas were having to race to get fields planted before the crop insurance deadline, and the replanting that is going on in parts of the state. Naig talks about the situation.
As we said, breaking the multiple-year drought we have endured so quickly has been a blessing to farmers across the state, especially as another summertime La Niña is firing up in the Pacific. Naig says that the rains coupled with an early summer heat wave will give our crops the best chances to start strong.
The wet spring has allowed us to replenish the short supply of forage for alfalfa and grass hay that we have fought with for the past few years.
