Rain causing poor planting conditions this week

CLARION — More rain over the weekend is making for muddy fields and poor conditions for planting in many parts of Iowa. Farmers made exceptional progress a week ago, as corn plantings shot from 29 to 70-percent statewide, and soybean plantings bounded from 16 to 49-percent.

This week likely won’t be so good but Iowa State University Extension ag field agronomist Angie Rieck Hinz  says farmers will catch up soon enough. “On a good day in Iowa, Iowa farmers can plant about 1.2 million acres,” Rieck Hinz says. “So if you think about planting 1.2 million acres out of the 23 million acres of crop we have in Iowa, we can get the entire state planted in a relatively short time.”

Parts of Iowa had snow on the ground not long ago, as winter held on much longer than usual this year, which pushed farmers’ timelines back.  “We just ran into some speed bumps this spring, with cool temperatures, cool soil temperatures and some rain that kept us out of the field for a little bit,” she says, “but we hope whatever happens for precip the next couple of days is relatively light so we can finish off this planting.”

Mostly sunny conditions are forecast for this week with highs largely in the 70s.