WEATHER WAGES WORRIES FOR FARMERS

    REGIONAL -- Depending on what area you’re in, it’s a pretty average season for the crops in Iowa.
    Randy Pryor has been fortunate. Areas around western Iowa have had differing levels of luck with rainfall, causing some dry pockets in areas around the state such as Harlan. Pryor, who is stationed in Woodbine, said his area has caught almost every rainfall.
    “I think we’ve had over four inches in July,” Pryor said.
    This is good news for Pryor, who claimed that the “old-timers” used to say you needed about an inch of rain for every week in July to have a successful corn crop.
    In areas of eastern Iowa, the problem has been the opposite with too much rain raising issues for farmers.
    In areas to the north and the south of him, Pryor knows other farmers who are expecting a reduction of 20 to 40 percent in yield due to the dryness.
    “It can impact the bottom line pretty severely,” Pryor said.
    It’s an issue outside of the farmers’ control.
    Pryor’s biggest obstacle has been slow emergence with his soybeans. In the second week of June, he had to replant almost 1/4 of the crops due to cool weather.

 
 

 

Harlan Newspapers

1114 7th Street
P.O. Box 721
Harlan, IA 51537-0721

(800) 909-6397
news2@harlanonline.com

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