Past IEM Features tagged: corn

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95% Corn Harvest Done

17 Nov 2022 05:33 AM
The weekly USDA NASS crop progress update released on Monday estimated the corn harvest in Iowa at 95% done. The featured chart presents the yearly time series of this metric expressed as a grid of daily values interpolated from the weekly reports. The white X denotes the 95% value for each of the previous years. This year is ahead of or close to the pace of each year since 2012. The outliers of 2009, 2019 (late maturity and horrible harvest conditions) and 2012 (very early maturity and drought conditions) are easily distinguishable within the chart. The good news for the folks with corn yet to harvest is that warmer weather is forecast later next week, so getting rid of the snow is generally a good thing to help finish up the harvest.

Voting:
Good: 14
Bad: 0

Tags:   corn  

2020 Drought and Derecho

26 Aug 2020 05:01 AM
The USDA NASS weekly update released on Monday showed a deteriorating corn crop condition for Iowa with about 25% of the state's crop now rated either "poor" or "very poor". The featured chart presents the weekly values since 1986 for six states in the Midwestern US. Each year since 1986 is plotted with the big drought years of 1988 and 2012 highlighted for each state. The recent uptick in bad crop condition is thanks to the ongoing drought and damage from the August 10th Derecho. It is getting too late in the season for additional rain to help the corn crop, but it could perhaps help the soybean crop some. There is some hope for rain next week, but more hot daytime weather is in store until then.

Voting:
Good: 13
Bad: 0

Tags:   nass   corn  

Great Start for Corn Planting

29 Apr 2020 04:27 AM
The USDA released their weekly crop progress estimates on Monday and corn planting is off to a great start for the state. The featured chart presents the yearly planting progress with this year's latest estimate of 39% denoted with an X for all previous years. Of the past 9 years, only 2016 comes in with a slightly faster pace than this year. One would expect next week's updated number to be a sizable increase in progress as well with good conditions prevailing this week.

Voting:
Good: 8
Bad: 0

Tags:   nass   corn  

Corn Grain Drydown Calculator

09 Oct 2019 05:35 AM
The featured image is a screen capture from a new Corn Drydown Calculator tool that the IEM partnered with the FACST team here at ISU Agronomy to create. You provide the tool with a location, date, and observed corn grain moisture. The tool uses historical data for that location along with a forecast to predict the drydown of the grain. Corn moisture remains high yet for most fields and while the last few days have been ideal for drying, the forecast is not great with colder and wetter weather expected. Strong winds for the weekend are also a concern for increased corn stalk lodging.

Voting:
Good: 6
Bad: 0

Tags:   corn  

2019 Corn Denting Progress

04 Sep 2019 05:34 AM
The USDA updated their weekly crop progress report and estimated 41% of the corn in Iowa has reached denting stage. The featured chart presents the yearly progress of this metric with linearly interpolated values in between the weekly reports. The white X values represent when each previous year reached the present year's value of 41%. A few recent years show up with a later progress, including 2013 and 2009. Once corn has dented, it still takes about another month or more before reaching black layer and full maturity. We really need to make it at least through at least September before any killing freeze happens and preferably well into October.

Voting:
Good: 11
Bad: 0

Tags:   nass   corn  

Lagging Corn Emergence

10 Jun 2019 05:34 AM
The USDA is set to release updated weekly crop progress numbers today and will be very interesting to see how things have progressed over Iowa this past week. Conditions have generally improved greatly with warmer weather and mostly dry conditions. Both should help get the rest of the corn planted and that which was planted emerged. Both stats have been running below average this year as shown by the featured chart presented Iowa and Illinois' corn crop planting and emergence progress. Iowa has generally fared better than Illinois, but the cool May did not help what corn that did get planted up and out of the ground. Unfortunately, cooler and wetter weather has returned for this week.

Voting:
Good: 17
Bad: 0

Tags:   usda   corn  

Slow Weekly Corn Progress

05 Jun 2019 05:34 AM
This week's update to the USDA NASS corn crop planting progress continues to paint a dire picture over the corn belt. Persistent rains and wet field conditions have significantly delayed planting and the crop that has been planted has suffered from the same wet soil conditions and cool air temperatures. The featured chart depicts the weekly percentage of acres planted by year. For each year, the week with the highest value is labelled on the left hand side. This year's max so far is the lowest shown on the chart.

Voting:
Good: 10
Bad: 0

Tags:   nass   corn  

Weekly Corn Planting Progress

03 May 2018 05:33 AM
The spring planting season in Iowa has been a struggle. The epic cold and snow of April delayed the onset and widespread rains this week will further delay activity. There was a window of about seven days last week into early this week that allowed for some progress to me made. The featured chart looks at USDA NASS reported weekly crop progress reports since 1979 for Iowa. The estimates are updated by the USDA weekly and the chart shows the yearly progress by day of the year with the top panel and the maximum weekly change each year with the bottom panel. The bottom panel casts some doubt on the perception that farmers are getting the corn crop in faster thanks to bigger and faster equipment. While certainly the size and speed of corn planters has increased since 1979, the number of acres planted per planter has dramatically increased as well.

Voting:
Good: 12
Bad: 0

Tags:   corn   nass  

2017 Corn Harvest Progress

28 Sep 2017 05:31 AM
The corn harvest has yet to get underway this fall for Iowa. The featured chart displays USDA NASS estimates of corn harvest progress for the state. The latest number for Iowa is 3% harvested and the three percent value each previous year is denoted by an X. This year's progress is about on par with previous years, except 2012 of course. Recall that 2012 was a drought with epic warmth, so the crops reached maturity extremely early. The harvest of 2009 really sticks out as well with the harvest lasting well into December.

Voting:
Good: 10
Bad: 0

Tags:   corn  

Corn Denting Progress

07 Sep 2017 05:34 AM
The fall harvest season is soon to get in full swing. The corn crop is running somewhat behind this year. The featured chart displays yearly USDA NASS estimates of the percentage of the corn crop that is in 'dented' stage. This is one of the last development stages before harvest. The most recent analysis places 60% of Iowa's crop in this dented status and the 'x's on the plot denote the date during previous years that were at 60% as well. So we are a bit behind of 2016, but in line with the previous two years to that. It is kind of interesting to see how far 2012 sticks out. Of course, 2012 featured a drought and epic warmth, which got the crop quickly to maturity.

Voting:
Good: 10
Bad: 0

Tags:   nass   corn  

2017 Corn Crop Condition

26 Jul 2017 05:36 AM
The featured chart displays weekly USDA NASS crop condition reports by state. Each tan line represents the weekly progression of the statewide coverage of corn crop reported to be in either bad or very bad condition. Three years are highlighted for this presentation, which are the years of 2012, 2016 and 2017. For this year, Iowa is shown to be in about as good of shape as any of the others highlighted here. The worst conditions are shown in Indiana, who has seen flooding rains this season.

Voting:
Good: 9
Bad: 0

Tags:   nass   corn  

2017 Corn Planting Progress

27 Apr 2017 05:34 AM
The featured chart displays yearly USDA estimated corn planting progress for Iowa. The horizontal bars each year represent the percentage of corn acres planted for the year to date period. The X's represent the value of 8% for each year's plot, which is the current progress this year. The chart indicates that progress is running a bit behind recent average. An upcoming stretch of chilly and wet weather will likely not help progress along.

Voting:
Good: 5
Bad: 0

Tags:   corn  

Corn Condition

18 Aug 2016 05:31 AM
The featured set of charts displays yearly time series of USDA NASS reported corn crop condition reports since 1986 for six selected states in the Midwest. The values shown total the two poorest conditions (poor and very poor) contained within the report. Four years are highlighted for comparison. The black lines present the values for this year and there are very small amounts of poor corn to be found. The drought year of 2012 is also highlighted to show how bad things got in states like Illinois and Missouri. Timely and significant rains have occurred this summer over much of the corn belt, but as shown by Ohio's plotted values, some places have missed out.

Voting:
Good: 6
Bad: 0

Tags:   usda   corn  

2016 Corn Planting Progress

20 Apr 2016 05:34 AM
A cool start to April has given way to much warmer and mostly dry conditions. This has allowed farmers in the state to get a great jump on the spring planting with the most recent numbers from the USDA indicating 13% of the state's corn crop is in the ground. The featured chart looks at the yearly progress of corn planting for Iowa with an 'X' denoting the 13% level each year. Only 2010 and 2004 are shown ahead of this year in this analysis.

Voting:
Good: 15
Bad: 0

Tags:   corn  

Great Corn Planting Progress

19 May 2015 05:39 AM
While there have been numerous rounds of rain this May in the state, the events have not been too widespread which has allowed corn planting progress to proceed at a good clip. The featured map shows updated estimates from the USDA of percentage of corn acres planted in the state. Only Kansas is shown behind long term average as they have had many significant rain events this spring.

Voting:
Good: 12
Bad: 10
Abstain: 6

Tags:   corn  

Weekly Corn Planting

06 May 2015 05:40 AM
The USDA updated corn planting progress valid for 3 May shows that Iowa farmers had a very productive last week with 54% of the projected corn acres getting planted over the past seven days. The featured chart displays the percentage of acres planted over the seven day analysis periods for each year since 1979. The highest weekly total is shown on the left hand side of the chart. This analysis would indicate that it is common for such a high percentage of acres to get planted within one week. Progress this week has slowed considerably with numerous rounds of rain.

Voting:
Good: 19
Bad: 11
Abstain: 4

Tags:   corn   nass  

Corn Planting Progress

29 Apr 2015 05:41 AM
Cold soil temperatures and wet conditions have delayed corn planting in Iowa as shown by the recent USDA crop progress report. The featured map displays the estimated percentage of corn acres planted by state along with the departure from long term average. The weather this week will make a very large change to this map when the updated crop progress report is made next week.

Voting:
Good: 17
Bad: 10
Abstain: 9

Tags:   corn  

Yearly Corn Harvest Progress

05 Nov 2014 05:43 AM
The USDA released updated crop progress estimates on Monday and Iowa farmers have caught up a bit with the corn crop harvest. The featured chart displays the yearly corn harvest progress for Iowa with the weekly reports interpolated to a daily time step based on a simple linear model. This year's current progress percentage (61%) is denoted on each of the previous years' values. This year's progress delays are not too extreme when you compare with very poor years of 2009 and 2002.

Voting:
Good: 11
Bad: 4
Abstain: 5

Tags:   corn  


View larger image
Data from USDA NASS Quickstats

Corn Harvest Progress

21 Oct 2014 05:44 AM
The USDA released updated crop progress numbers on Monday. The featured map displays the statewide corn harvest progress along with the departure from long term average for approximately this time of year. Iowa and North Dakota are shown the furthest behind schedule. About half of Iowa's corn would normally have been harvested by now, but a late growing season and wet conditions have lead to delays. A very late harvest of the soybean crop has also delayed the corn harvest as farmers typically harvest the beans first. Our current weather and near term forecast look to help the progress tremendously as most will stay dry with very mild temperatures.

Voting:
Good: 14
Bad: 7
Abstain: 3

Tags:   corn  

Corn Crop is Doing Well

29 Aug 2014 05:38 AM
The featured chart compares the weekly USDA corn crop condition report for six states for each of the past years since 1986. The black line represents the percentage of corn acres rated as either poor or very poor condition for 2014. You can see that for all of these highlighted states, the corn crop is doing very well! Some of the years with poorly rated crops are also highlighted on this chart. Not every year was a bad year for each state. At this point, there is a great deal of optimism that a large corn harvest is on the way but a significant number of heat units are still necessary to reach maturity.

Voting:
Good: 36
Bad: 23
Abstain: 25

Tags:   corn  

Slow Accumulation

11 Aug 2014 05:36 AM
Even having the Iowa State Fair currently in session could not provoke hot temperatures as our cool summer drags on. The featured chart compares the period between growing degree day accumulation value 1135 and 1660 (important for corn) by planting date for 2012 and 2014. It has taken seven to eight more days this year to accumulate the same number of GDDs vs 2012. For later planting dates, we have yet to even complete this accumulation (gray bars). Slow GDD accumulations during this highlighted period is considered good for corn yield production, but it comes at an expense of concerns of early frost and late/wet corn harvest moisture.

Voting:
Good: 15
Bad: 7
Abstain: 8

Tags:   gdd   corn  

Wettest Month and Corn Yield

16 Jul 2014 05:43 AM
There is some current talk in the news about US corn yield projections and Iowa pulling down the average due to the very wet June in the state. Does having a really wet month during the growing season lead to significant reductions in corn yield? The featured chart attempts to look into this using USDA NASS corn yield compared with the largest precipitation departure month for that year. The yield departures are computed by comparing with the current trend analysis as corn yields have increased thanks to better management practices, genetics, etc. Of course, there is no magic weather metric that directly provides corn yield, but having a wet month certainly appears to limit the upside potential. The dashed line shows where 2014 could potentially appear on this plot.

Voting:
Good: 8
Bad: 2
Abstain: 3

Tags:   corn  

Good omen for corn

02 Aug 2013 05:35 AM
From a cold and extremely wet spring, to snow in May and the currently developing drought, the corn crop has had no shortage of stress thrown at it this year. While the recent period has been dry, it has also been cool during an important period in corn development after tasseling. The featured chart assumes that the corn crop was planted on 1 May each year and then plots the number of days between the VT and R2 corn development stage based on growing degree days. The bars are then colored based on whether the Story County (Ames) corn yield that year was above or below the trend line. Obviously, one metric is not a perfect predictor of yield, but it does appear having a longer period helps yield.

Voting:
Good: 186
Bad: 24

Tags:   corn  

Late Corn Silking

18 Jul 2013 05:45 AM
The featured map displays the estimated percentage of corn areas per state that are currently tasseled/silking along with the departure from the past 30 years average for the second week of July. The western Corn Belt is way behind with only 1% estimated in both Iowa and Minnesota. The corn crop is behind schedule due to late planting dates because of cold spring weather and wet conditions. These estimates were valid for four days ago and a visual survey of your local corn crops probably shows more acres now tasseling. This is an important time for corn development and it desperately needs moisture. Having hot and dry conditions during this period is not good for the eventual yield.

Voting:
Good: 84
Bad: 12

Tags:   corn   2013  

Busy corn planting week

21 May 2013 05:43 AM
A cold and wet April put Iowa and the rest of the corn belt well behind schedule for planting corn. The weather did straighten out enough last week for major progress to made as shown by the featured chart. The USDA weekly crop progress report estimated 71% of the state's corn crop was planted by this past Sunday. This was up 56% from the previous week! The featured chart shows the weekly progress reports since 1979 in the top panel and the maximum week over week change in the bottom panel. Recent rains this week will slow progress again and our weather looks to turn a bit cooler.

Voting:
Good: 74
Bad: 10

Tags:   corn  

Corn Progress

07 May 2013 05:42 AM
The USDA released their weekly update on corn planting progress and the featured map shows the estimated percentage that has been planted by state along with the departure from average for the first week of May. Our wet and mostly cold April has put the Midwest states well behind average. Typically, about half of the corn acres should have been planted by now. Some of the eight percent estimated to have been planted in Iowa may have to be replanted as cold rain and snow might have damaged the seed. The good news is that the weather appears to have straightened out with warmer temperatures and mostly dry conditions.

Voting:
Good: 55
Bad: 5

Tags:   corn   2013  

Limited planting progress

30 Apr 2013 05:39 AM
The calendar is about to turn into May, but nearly all of the state's agricultural ground has yet to be planted. The wet and cold April has created two problems for farmers. Fields are too wet to transverse with equipment and the soil is too cold to support growth. The featured chart presents the weekly USDA corn crop planting progress report. Only a few years since 1979 have been as slow as this year. Our recent few days of warm and mostly dry weather has allowed some to get started, but the weather is about to turn very cold and wet for early May.

Voting:
Good: 44
Bad: 7

Tags:   2013   corn  

Bad year for corn

17 Aug 2012 05:47 AM
The featured chart presents yearly time series of USDA reported weekly corn crop condition for Iowa and five nearby states. The charted line represents the total area estimated to be in either "poor" or "very poor" condition. These are the two worst categories that are designated. Each chart contains the time series for each year since 1986. Conveniently, this allows us to compare this year with the last major drought of 1988 in the Midwest. Other significant years of 2005 and 1993 are included for comparison. While 2012 has been devastating in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, things have not been all that bad in Minnesota. Compare that with what happened in 1993 where Minnesota got the worst of it. It is not for certain how much some recent rains in the Midwest will help the corn crop as the damage has pretty much already been done in the hardest hit areas.

Voting:
Good: 82
Bad: 25

Tags:   usda   corn   2012   1988   1993  


View larger image
Stats from USDA NASS service

Getting the corn planted

23 May 2012 05:48 AM
Getting the crops planted each spring in Iowa is not an arbitrary task. Threats of frost, rain, drought, and soil temperatures are among the issues farmers need to work through each year. The featured chart presents USDA weekly estimates of corn acres planted in Iowa since 1979. A few of the extreme years are highlighted in the upper chart. This year got off to a very early start, but wet weather arrived causing the planting rate to slow. We recently finished a bit ahead of schedule thanks to our recent stretch of dry weather. The lower chart presents the largest weekly jump each year in the percentage of acres planted. It is interesting to note that this value hasn't increased over the years. While individual farmers are easily able to plant more acres in a day, there are many fewer farmers and they need to work more days to cover the larger farm sizes that currently exist.

Voting:
Good: 41
Bad: 11

Tags:   corn   usda  

Rapid Development

27 Sep 2011 06:01 AM
The 2011 corn crop harvest is well underway in Iowa. One of the detrimental factors to this year's crop was a very hot stretch of weather in July during an important crop development stage. The featured chart looks at the number of days between two key stages in the corn development based on accumulated growing degree days from 1 May. Some suggest that longer the crop stays in this sweet spot for development, the more time the plant has to cycle water and nutrients leading to a better yield. The 19 days that it took this year tied the shortest period on record for Ames. Of course, there are caveats galore to this plot as corn could have been planted earlier or later than 1 May, also could have been a shorter or longer maturity variety, and crop physiology / genetics continue to improve.

Voting:
Good: 14
Bad: 4

Tags:   corn   gdd