HARLAN, Iowa — Although June 20 thunderstorms gave western Iowa much-needed rain, it brought little relief to drought-stricken cropland in the rest of the state.

“While some of the fields have issues that could haunt them all year, for the most part, if we can catch a break from mid-June through the rest of the season, crops can rebound from a tough start,” said Clarke McGrath, Iowa State University extension field agronomist in Harlan, and partner program manager at ISU’s Corn and Soybean Initiative.

But he said soil conditions would dictate much of this possible rebound – especially since Iowa’s current soil condition is now “mostly dry.”

“Small parts of northwest Iowa have actually been a little on the wet side, and some of southwest Iowa got a pair of decent rains in the last couple weeks,” he said. “But, in general, the state is extremely dry and subsoil moisture is also low.”

According to the June 14 U.S. National Drought Monitor, many of Iowa’s crops, along with cropland in Illinois and Indiana, were listed as “abnormally dry” going into a drought stage, which the map said was “short-term dryness slowing planting, growth of crops or pastures” and where fire risk is above-average. Eighteen Iowa counties alone were listed as “moderately dry.”

But because of recent spotty rains throughout parts of the state, the June 21 map has since listed Iowa as “moderately dry,” where the map defined it as having some damage to crops and pastures. Fire risk is high; streams, reservoirs or wells are low; and some water shortages are developing or imminent, where voluntary water use restrictions are requested.

McGrath said typical Iowa soils can hold about one-third or a little more of the needed crop moisture in the approximately five-foot-deep rooting zone, with the rest coming from rainfall during the growing season.

 “The dry conditions late last summer and fall left this soil moisture reserve very low,” he said. “When spring rainfall does not replenish soil moisture reserves, crops are much more dependent on summer rainfall, which is where we are at now.

“Early in the season, daily water use by corn and soybean crops isn’t really high, but as we head into reproductive stages in corn and soybean crops, they can use one-quarter to one-third inches of water per day or more. With extremely dry soils, most of the state will need very timely and significant rainfall to feed the crops’ needs.”

The June 22 forecast by the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities predicts the drought will continue over Iowa and the rest of the Midwest Corn Belt through September. In addition, the latest U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook forecast much of central Iowa staying in the drought category through the Sept. 30 evening corn and soybean harvest.

The outlook map also listed western Iowa in the category of “drought development likely,” with eastern Iowa mostly exempted from many of the drought stages currently ravaging the state. Moreover, the June 18 Iowa Crop & Weather report said two-thirds of Iowa’s topsoil and subsoils are moisture-deficient for the first time since 2006.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said “pastureland in particular has been stressed and the result is less than half of Iowa’s pastures are rated in good to excellent condition” for the second straight week.

Last year, the USDA said more than 80 percent Iowa’s corn was rated good to excellent through this week in 2011, compared to only one-third of the state rated good to excellent the week of June 11-17, 2012.

“Both corn and soybean crops have been under the gun early this year,” McGrath said. “We have had a challenging season so far with corn: sidewall compaction, rootless corn, uneven corn, weed control challenges, herbicide drift – just a rough start.”

Soybean fields were no easier, with similar weed control challenges and “the stand establishment issues from the dry soils was incredibly frustrating,” he added.

“Right now, the focus is on tying up loose ends on weed control and making decisions about fungicide applications as we head into reproductive stages. If we start to see tassels and silks come out, and the temps are in the 90s with little rainfall, my customers will start to get very concerned.”

The extreme drought conditions in Iowa and the Corn Belt are also raising concerns about effect on corn prices. The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) showed prices up 13 cents per bushel for the July contract to $6.08, with the new December crop contract up 8 cents per bushel to $5.18.

The USDA recently forecast record yields of 166 bushels per acre this year on 96 million acres. That would bring surpluses from the current 875 million bushels to an estimated 1.8 billion.

CBOT showed soybeans up as well on June 14, with the July contract up 5 cents to $14.13 per bushel and the new November crop contract up 2 cents, to $13.22.