Dallas County Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Meaghan Anderson shares how the rainfall has been affecting the crops.

Anderson tells Raccoon Valley Radio that most corn and soybeans are moving at a steady rate during the reproductive stages as the rain has offered both positives and negatives. She points out that as long as the crops are getting enough air, heavy amounts of rainfall won’t necessarily hurt them. Anderson says that compared to the yearly averages around this time of year, the crops are approximately in the right spot, and might be slightly ahead with the development.

“We’ve been running maybe 10 to 20 percent ahead on growing degree days or temperature units for essentially the entire growing season. And so this little cooldown slows that development down, which is a good thing as far as being able to accumulate lots of yield and giving the corn and soybeans plenty of time to get resources into those seeds.”

Anderson indicates she’s been hearing from farmers that it’s been difficult to complete fungicide applications, but stresses that that shouldn’t be happening in a year receiving lots of moisture and humidity. She describes that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting warmer than average temperatures throughout August, and follows the trend of the whole year so far, according to Anderson.