DES MOINES — Iowa farmers made significant planting progress last week as mostly dry weather gave them nearly a full week of fieldwork, according to the latest Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report.
The report, covering May 4 through May 10, showed Iowa farmers had 6.5 days suitable for fieldwork. That was slightly more than the same week last year and allowed producers to keep corn, soybean and oat planting moving across the state.
“Farmers made a lot of planting progress last week thanks to drier conditions across the state,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said in the report. “Although parts of northern Iowa had a few mornings of frost, the forecast through mid-May indicates warmer temperatures and the potential for more near-normal rainfall.”
Corn planting reached 72 percent complete statewide, even with last year and 9 percentage points ahead of the five-year average. Corn emergence reached 19 percent, which was 8 points behind last year but equal to the five-year average.
Soybean planting also advanced quickly, reaching 60 percent complete. That matched last year’s pace and was 12 percentage points ahead of the five-year average. Seven percent of Iowa soybeans had emerged.
Oat planting reached 94 percent complete, slightly behind last year’s 96 percent mark.
Soil moisture remained mostly adequate across Iowa. Topsoil moisture was rated 68 percent adequate and 6 percent surplus, while 23 percent was short and 3 percent was very short. Subsoil moisture was rated 74 percent adequate and 5 percent surplus, with 18 percent short and 3 percent very short.
The week was notably dry across most of the state. According to the weather summary included in the report, all reporting stations recorded unseasonably dry conditions, with only southeast Iowa seeing near-normal rainfall. Statewide average precipitation was just 0.03 inch, compared to a normal of 1.04 inches.
Temperatures were also cooler than normal. The statewide average temperature was 54.1 degrees, which was 2.4 degrees below normal. Northern Iowa saw the coldest readings, including a low of 22 degrees at Sioux City Airport on May 7.
Rainfall totals ranged from no accumulation across northern Iowa to 0.96 inch at Augusta in southeast Iowa. Davenport recorded the week’s high temperature of 86 degrees on May 4.
As of Sunday, four-inch soil temperatures ranged from the low 50s in northern Iowa to the upper 50s in southern Iowa.
The weekly crop report is released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.