05/06/24 Surprise-Surprise

Given the record short winter and unprecedented amount of crop preparation that had been done this spring, I was expecting that this year may have been the first when both my corn and soybeans entirely got planted here in April. About half of the family’s corn got in and no soybeans. 39% of the corn and 25% of soybeans were planted in April in Iowa. April was cold and wet with only a few days where planters could run. Northern tier states…the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan were all single digits for planting progress in April. The problem is that not much may be going to get planted in the first half of May either and the conditions of what gets planted may be poor as they are mudded in. We are now wet. Our soil profile is full and rain is left standing to drain by tiles, creeks and rivers. The drought has been drowned here in NW IA. Probably shouldn’t complain about standing water here when they got up to two feet in TX, OK and AR which caused real flooding. Again…Dr. Elwynn Taylor says that Iowa moisture in May is determined by precip conditions in AR. Air…