Our area was blessed with another 4 tenths of an inch of rain in the past week. Corn is 85% dented with some almost near black layer. The crop is looking good on ground where there’s good soil and high fertility; corn on light ground is being chopped this week for silage. Soybeans are in the R5 to R6 stage and are staying green. Soybeans are blooming on top, so rain now will help fill in those top blooms.

Soybeans have reached the R4 to R6 stages of development and are looking excellent after the .5” to 2” of rain the area received over the weekend.

Corn fields are also progressing quickly with 40 to 50% of fields reaching dent stage. All other fields are in the hard milk stage. Northwest Iowa will reach black layer around the 1st of September and we will be harvesting in late September at current rates of growth.

On the alfalfa front, few have put up a forth crop at this stage, but with recent rains growth could take off and reach that fourth cutting as many growers are hoping for.

Overall Northwest Iowa is in fairly good shape. Soybeans are in the R3 to R4 stage of development and growers are spraying for soybean aphids and spidermites. Corn is pollinated and past the milk stage with beginning signs of dent stage setting in. On good soils, corn still has potential for 160 bushel yields. Some growers are spraying fungicide. Fourth cutting alfalfa is slowing coming into play but many farmers are finding this crop to be a bit short.