Agri News, MN
09-04-07
Wet fields don't stop Corn, Soybean Plot day
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
Agri News staff writer
TRIPOLI, Iowa -- Charlie Albrecht and Rod Hamer know too well about wet
fields.
The recent twilight field day for the Bremer County Corn and Soybean Plot came
in the middle of heavy rainfall.
Albrecht, president of the Bremer County Corn and Soybean Growers and a
Readlyn farmer, and Hamer, Bremer County Extension director, made lastminute arrangements to move the event to the Bremer County Extension office in
Tripoli. The Bremer County Cattlemen grilled burgers in one of the bays of the
nearby car wash.
Seed dealers set up booths in the Extension office meeting room along with the
Bremer County Dairy Promoters who were making malts. Picnic tables and the
food line were in the shop behind the Extension office. So that farmers could at
least get a look at the plot, Hamer made a slide show with photos of each of the
hybrids.
"Everyone worked really hard to make this work," Albrecht said.
Iowa Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Karey Claghorn, who had hosted town
meetings in other counties earlier in the day, said rain was the dominant topic.
"If the faucet shuts off, Iowa will still be looking at a relatively good crop this fall,"
she said.
Iowa State University Extension field specialist for crops George Cummins
said he'd been fielding calls all day from state and national news media.
"What do you want me to tell them, that the drought is broken," Cummins said.
"Tell them that it's wet," someone quipped.
When Cummins asked how many had flooded crops, he got laughter in
response.
"The seed corn people planned to start harvest this week and that's delayed,"
Cummins said. "In northeast Iowa farmers are ready for silage harvest, and that's
delayed. It's going to be hard to make third-crop alfalfa, and that's going to create
a real demand for forage."
Saturated soils could cause corn plants to shut down early, and soybeans don't
like wet feet, he said.
"These are ideal conditions for white mold and sudden death syndrome, and
we're seeing both," Cummins said.
Cummins said warm, wet, cloudy weather is also ideal for soybean rust
development, which is moving north.
"If soybean rust does make it to Iowa this year, the thing that will save us is that it
will be too late to have much effect," Cummins said.
The consensus among farmers Cummins has talked to is that corn yields will be
down 5 percent to 10 percent from a year ago. It's too early to tell with soybeans.
The rain could actually help.
"Some fields have awfully good yield potential," Cummins said.