By DOUG SCHMITZ

Iowa Correspondent

DES MOINES, Iowa — A substantial swath of southeastern Iowa and most of Illinois remains in moderate-to-severe drought mode, while high temperatures linger in Indiana, dry weather complicates harvest in Ohio and Kentucky and Tennessee receive little to no precipitation.

“Rain over the east-central and southeast Iowa was mostly under one-half inch with some areas, such as Dubuque, Iowa City, Davenport and Mount Pleasant, seeing no rain at all,” said State Meteorologist Harry Hillaker in the Oct. 2 Iowa Crop & Weather report.

While Iowa did receive some rain, it was too little, too late to make any difference for harvest season, said Clarke McGrath, Iowa State University agronomist and on-farm research and extension coordinator at ISU’s Iowa Soybean Research Center.

“The weather has a pretty poor sense of timing for us this year,” he said. “It seems like in some areas, we can’t win. In the worst of the drought-hit areas, we couldn’t buy a decent rain when it would help during grain fill and pod fill. Now that we need to get our disappointing crops out, it starts to rain.”

According to the Oct. 5 U.S. Drought Monitor, one-category degradations were made to the drought status in northern and central Ohio, far western Kentucky, southern and eastern Iowa and western Upper Michigan.

“A short-term impact (S) label was placed in Ohio to describe the short-term nature of the dryness and drought,” the report noted. “Illinois finished its fifth-driest September, and its fourth-driest August-September periods since 1895.”

In the Hoosier State, high temperatures were cause for concern, said Greg Matli, USDA-Indiana state statistician. “Hot and dry weather have aided in the maturity of the corn and soybean crops, but left some farmers looking for rain to help with soybean harvest and planting of wheat. Despite shorter days, the combination of high temperatures and lack of rain made for a quick drydown of crops.”

In Illinois, the state’s Oct. 2 report said dry conditions were prevalent across the state, with the average temperature 66.4 degrees, and precipitation averaging 0.02 inch. Kentucky experienced above-normal temperatures and below-normal rainfall the week ending Oct. 1 – none.

In Michigan, hot temperatures early in the week ending Oct. 1 gave way to cooler, more seasonal temperatures by week’s end. “Light rains replenished dry topsoil,” said Marlo Johnson, USDA-Great Lakes regional office director, “but was not enough to completely alleviate dry conditions in many areas.”

In Ohio, scarce-to-nonexistent rains and soaring temperatures have complicated harvest, said Cheryl Turner, Ohio state statistician.

“Some growers decided to wait until rain could add some moisture back before harvest,” she explained. “Other growers proceeded with harvest, taking measures to minimize shattering and splits. There were multiple reports of combine fires, underscoring the challenges of what has become a very dry season,” but famers are reporting better-than-expected yields.

Tennessee’s drier weather has returned, allowing farmers to catch up on corn harvest and begin soybean harvest, but it’s stressful for pasture conditions.

“The dry weather is helping to accelerate corn and soybean harvest, but making pasture reseeding and cover crop establishment tougher,” said Jeff Lannom, Weakley County extension agent. “Excellent corn and soybean yields are being reported.”

Corn, soybean, wheat harvest

In Illinois, corn dented was at 97 percent and maturity was 73 percent, with corn harvest 21 percent complete. Crop condition was rated 4 percent very poor to 15 percent excellent. Soybean coloring was at 92 percent, dropping leaves at 80 percent, and harvest was 30 percent complete. Condition was rated 5 percent very poor to 12 percent excellent.

Indiana corn was 61 percent matured, 6 percent harvested for grain and rated in good to excellent condition at 54 percent in the north. In central Indiana, it was 72 percent mature, 13 percent harvested for grain and rated 49 percent in good to excellent condition; in the south, corn matured at 80 percent, was 41 percent harvested and rated 61 percent good to excellent.

In the north, Indiana soybeans were 80 percent dropping leaves, with 22 percent harvested and rated 57 percent good to excellent. In central Indiana, they were 83 percent dropping leaves, with 28 percent harvested, rated 51 percent good to excellent.

In the south, Indiana soybeans were 77 percent dropping leaves, with 20 percent harvested and rated 54 percent good to excellent. Winter wheat was 17 percent planted in northern Indiana, 8 percent in central and 9 percent in the south.

In Iowa, 97 percent of corn reached the dent stage or beyond, with 73 percent reaching maturity and 6 percent harvested for grain. Moisture content of field corn was harvested at 23 percent, and condition improved slightly to 60 percent good to excellent.

In addition, 97 percent of Iowa soybeans turned color or beyond, with 84 percent dropping leaves and 16 percent harvested, with condition at 61 percent good to excellent.

“So far, yields have been all over the place,” McGrath said. “We have had corn running from well below 100 bushels per acre (bpa) to nearly 300 bpa. It all depends on where the fields are at and how the weather treated them. Soybean yields run a similar range, from some as low as in the 20s, to some fields in the 70s.”

In Kentucky, tobacco houseburn was reported as 1 percent heavy to 13 percent light, with 83 percent experiencing none. Corn and soybean yield reports so far were mostly good, with overall crop conditions rated similarly. Hay and roughage supplies were reported at 1 percent very short to 11 percent surplus.

In Michigan, corn silage harvest topped 60 percent complete and soybean harvest was in full swing as the recent hot weather hastened crop drydown. Dry bean harvest continued and was winding down in the southeast, with winter wheat planting underway and hay harvest continuing.

In Ohio, despite the challenges, many growers are reporting better than expected yields, with moisture content of corn at 22 percent. Harvest progress estimates indicated the focus has been on soybeans, and wheat planting continued, with many growers opting to “dust in” the crop.

In Tennessee, the Oct. 2 report said producers continue to cut hay, with each cutting showing promise of adequate supplies going into winter. Drier weather has returned, allowing farmers to catch up on corn harvest and begin soybean harvest.

Right now, McGrath said, it’s just all about getting the crops out of the fields. “Dealing with the aftermath of the drought and the lackluster commodity markets have been something growers have dealt with most of the summer and will continue to contend with as we wrap up 2017 and prep for the 2018 crop year. 2018 crop budgets will be pretty challenging, to say the least.”