OTTUMWA —
The U.S. Department of agriculture used a word to describe last week's harvest conditions that almost no one associates with this year: "ideal."
Now if only the crops were so good.
More than a third of Iowa's corn crop has been harvested, according to the report released Monday. A lack of rain made it easy for farmers to get into their fields, though many don't like what they're finding once they're out. Corn conditions declined. Twenty-one percent is now rated as very poor, and an additional 29 percent rates poor. Less than one in five fields are rated good or excellent.
Soybeans have weathered the 2012 drought better than corn, thanks in large part to rains in August. Forty percent of the crop rates fair, while another 26 percent rates good or excellent.
Last week also brought the first freeze of the season, according to State Climatologist Harry Hillaker. Conditions throughout the state were unseasonably cool and northwestern Iowa saw lows as cold as 22 degrees. Summer has not given up entirely, though, with the state's high temperature hitting 90.
The state's drought conditions aren't improving, Hillaker wrote:
"The statewide average precipitation was only 0.17 inches while normal for the week is 0.77 inches. This was the 18th week of the past 20 with less than normal precipitation."
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Dry conditions speed harvest
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