Ground Work 2021: Finishing This Season and Preparing for Next Year in Iowa
The weather has been a challenge in our area of the U.S. Midwest throughout 2021. Thankfully, it cooperated enough in November to allow us to…
Ground Work 2021: Iowa Weather Compressing Growing Season, Yield
Our crops look like they put up a good fight this year, but they have reached the point of shutting down biological processes for the…
Ground Work 2021: Weather Slows Iowa Harvest
After managing drought conditions all season, we received more than 13 cm, or 5 inches, of rain the last week of October. Two different systems…
Ground Work 2021: Heat and Drought Stressing Iowa Soybeans
It is still very dry in our area of Iowa in the U.S. Midwest. The crops still look ok right now, but they are on…
Ground Work 2021: Moisture Dictating Iowa Soybean Growth
The weather has been extremely dry in our area of Iowa, and that has slowed crop growth. Both our soybeans and corn are now growing…
Ground Work 2021: Iowa Soybeans Outyielding Expectations
This season was dry and challenging in our area of the U.S. Midwest. But now that we are harvesting, we are seeing that both our…
Ground Work 2021: Iowa Soybeans Emerging
We finished planting the 2021 crop on May 14. The last field we planted was soybeans we are growing for seed. The local seed company…
Ground Work 2021: Planters Rolling in Iowa
We are focused on planting both soybeans and corn right now. When we started planting, conditions were less than ideal. Soil temperatures were cooler than…
Ground Work 2021: Iowa Planting Preparation Dictated by 2020 Derecho
On August 10, 2020, our farm was hit by a derecho, a fast-moving storm with straight-line winds that reached speeds over 160 kilometers per hour, or 100 miles per hour. It was described…