Farmers continue to make planting progress between the rains and now 80% of the state’s corn and 29% of soybeans are in the ground.  Western Iowa has been wetter throughout the planting season and as a result only 65% of corn in southwest and 68% of corn in northwest Iowa has been planted, notes Greg Thessen, director of the Iowa office of USDA’s National Ag Statistics Service in Des Moines.

The complete weekly Iowa Crop Progress Report is available on the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship’s website IowaAgriculture.gov or on USDA’s site nass.usda.gov/ia. The report summary follows here:

PLANTING PROGRESS: As of May 8, Iowa has 80% of the state’s 2016 corn crop in the ground, and 29% of the soybean acres are planted. Also, dry and sunny weather last week aided crop emergence compared to previous week.

Farmers in north-central and central Iowa are farthest ahead
CROP REPORT: A dry week across much of Iowa allowed planting to progress for the week ending May 8, 2016, according to the USDA’s National Ag Statistics Service. Statewide there were 3.9 days suitable for fieldwork, up nearly two full days from last week. Dry and sunny weather aided crop emergence, when compared to last week.

Topsoil moisture levels rated zero percent very short, 2% short, 80% adequate and 18% surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated zero percent very short, 1% short, 84% adequate and 15% surplus. The western third of Iowa reported 20% or more with surplus subsoil moisture.

Corn planting for 2016 in Iowa is now a day ahead of last year
Iowa’s corn crop is now 80% planted. Corn planting progress for 2016 is a day ahead of last year, and eight days ahead of the five-year average. Farmers in north-central and central Iowa have already planted over 90% of their corn crop. Statewide, 28% of corn has emerged, two days ahead of last year, and five days ahead of the average. And 29% of the state’s soybean acreage has been planted, five days ahead of normal.

Planting of the state’s oat crop is nearing completion. Percentage of the oat crop that has emerged reached 84%, three days ahead of the previous year and nine days ahead of the average. Oat condition is rated 74% good to excellent.

Hay condition is now rated 73% good to excellent. Pasture condition is rated 70% good to excellent an increase of 5 percentage points from the previous week. Livestock conditions were reported as good with very little stress.

IOWA PRELIMINARY WEATHER SUMMARY—for week ending May 7, 2016
By Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship

The past reporting week began with cooler than normal weather prevailing in most areas through mid-week. High temperatures on Sunday (May 1) were mostly in the forties while 60s prevailed in most areas from Monday through Wednesday. Light freezes were recorded in scattered areas on Monday (May 2), Tuesday (May 3) and Thursday (May 5) mornings. Warmer air arrived in northwest Iowa on Thursday and statewide on Friday. Friday was easily the warmest day of the week with highs in the eighties over most of Iowa. Slightly cooler weather returned for the weekend.

Temperature ranged from 30 degree low to 90 degree high
Temperature extremes for the week ranged from Thursday morning lows of 30 degrees F at Cresco and Elkader to Friday afternoon highs of 90 degrees at Guttenberg and Marion (the first 90 degree readings in the state this year). Temperatures for the week as a whole averaged a bit warmer than usual over the west and a little below normal over the east with a statewide average of 0.6 degrees above normal.

Rain fell nearly statewide on Sunday (May 1) afternoon and evening with the greatest amounts falling over east central Iowa. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday were dry statewide. There were a few light showers and thunderstorms over extreme eastern Iowa on Tuesday night. Scattered light rain fell over much of northern Iowa late Friday night into Saturday. Light showers and thunderstorms were also scattered across the southwestern two-thirds of the state on Saturday (May 7) night into Sunday morning.

Statewide average for rain was one-fourth of weekly normal
Weekly rain totals varied from only sprinkles at Sidney, Shenandoah and Lake Mills to 0.86 inches at Davenport. The statewide average precipitation was 0.24 inches, or about one-fourth of the weekly normal of 0.98 inches. Soil temperatures at the four inch depth were averaging in the mid-50s to low 60s as of Sunday (May 8).