By DOUG SCHMITZ

Iowa Correspondent

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — While heavy rain drenched fields in the Midwest, Tropical Storm Gordon moved through Indiana and Kentucky, delaying crop progress across most of the region the week ending Sept. 9.

“There has been a lot of heavy rain across the region over the last few weeks,” Dave Samuhel, Accuweather.com senior meteorologist, told Farm World. “Some places in eastern Iowa and southern Wisconsin have seen more than 15 inches of rain. Rainfall in other areas has been above normal, except in northern Ohio into southern Michigan and parts of Indiana.”

Greg Matli, Indiana state statistician for the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), said heavy rains the latter half of the week saturated fields and delayed fieldwork, with some reports of high winds.

“The heavy rains delayed fieldwork but gave farmers a chance to continue preparing for corn and soybean harvests, though a handful had already begun,” he noted. “Seed corn, processing tomato and cucumber harvests were underway where the weather allowed.”

In Illinois, widespread rain fell across the region the previous week, the state’s Sept. 10 report stated. Corn matured reached 56 percent, with corn harvested at 4 percent. Soybeans coloring reached 75 percent, with those dropping leaves at 37 percent and harvest at 1 percent complete.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said another week of wet weather kept farmers from the fields and caused significant flooding in parts of the state.

“Corn and soybeans continue to move towards maturity and there is likely to be harvest activity starting over the next few weeks as conditions allow,” he said. The Sept. 10 Iowa Crop & Weather report said 58 percent of soybeans were coloring, with 17 percent dropping leaves.

In Kentucky, heavy rain later in the week and over the weekend from remnants of Gordon led to minor flooding, with rains mostly absorbing into the soil from past dry weather.

“The system started impacting the area Sept. 6, as tropical moisture was pulled northward into the Ohio Valley,” the state’s report said.

In Michigan, “corn and soybeans progressed. Spotters noticed that the overall hot, dry summer has had a negative effect on some corn ears,” said Marlo Johnson, USDA director of the Great Lakes regional office. “In certain fields, the ears looked short, poorly-filled and light in weight.

“However, the rain did improve soybean conditions, and allowed the crops to continue to fill pods. Dry beans also continued to mature.”

On the other hand, conditions in Ohio were very dry at the beginning of the week but ample rains were received by its end.

“Soybeans continued to drop leaves and remained in good to excellent condition,” said Cheryl Turner, Ohio state statistician for NASS. “Fields were growing and greening from the new moisture. Harvest was delayed in some areas due to continued rainfall. Corn for silage harvest made headway, despite widespread rains.”

In Tennessee, Jeff Lannom, Weakley County extension agent, reported, “Corn harvest is in full swing, with better yields than previously anticipated by producers. Some early-maturing soybeans have been harvested with good yields. Soybeans planted following wheat are in need of a drink of water.”

According to NASS’ Sept. 10 Crop Production report, U.S. farmers are expected to produce a record high soybean crop this year. Up 4 percent from 2017, soybean production is forecast at record high 4.59 billion bushels, while corn growers are expected to decrease their production slightly from last year, forecast at 14.6 billion bushels.

The USDA said average corn yield is forecast at 178.4 bushels per acre, up 1.8 from last year. If realized, this will be the highest yield on record, with the USDA forecasting record yields in Alabama, Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Tennessee.

“All in all, the crop should be in good shape,” Samuhel said. “But we will start to have issues heading into the harvest if we have more heavy rain in the areas that have been pounded recently. Western areas in Iowa would be most vulnerable to problems if we were to have another heavy rain event.”

However, he said rainfall is expected to be near-normal over the next month.

“Ideally, we will want below-normal rainfall heading into harvest in most areas for ideal conditions,” he said. “And, it could turn out that way. So, basically we don’t have any huge concerns with the crop or harvest conditions going into the fall.

“The weather pattern later in fall is expected to turn a little drier than normal. However, we should mention that southern areas in Tennessee will have a threat for heavy rain from (Hurricane) Florence. And these southern areas will likely be the wettest heading into the fall.”