More than 70 percent of Iowa is in some stage of drought, setting up farmers for a tough harvest this fall.
On a hot, dry Thursday last week, Schrock and his oldest son Nate Schrock were beginning to harvest their 1,000-acre farm outside Oakville in Louisa County.
Since planting his corn and soybeans May 8, Bill Schrock said 10 inches of rain has fallen on his fields.
As of Thursday, no rain had touched his crops in September.
We didn’t have any of those 100-plus degree days.
Charles Brown, farm management specialist at Iowa State University Extension, described poor farming conditions in southern Iowa as “a double whammy” due to low commodity prices and low yields.
“They’re in a more dire situation financially.” As Schrock explained while driving his combine Thursday, extended drought and low yields drive down the price of farmers’ crops, particularly if the rest of the country produces a solid harvest.
“In all likelihood it won’t be a lot of rain, less than a quarter of an inch,” Sheets said.
In the next six to 10 days, the Weather Prediction Center estimates chances for “above normal” precipitation at 40 percent.
For Schrock, whose family has farmed in the Oakville River Bottom for nearly 100 years, 60 bushels of soybeans an acre used to be the norm.