By all accounts, 2019 has been a struggle for farmers throughout Iowa, and according to the United States Department of Agriculture, there’s still quite a lot of crops still in the field under all the recent snow.

In their weekly crop report, the USDA said 64% of the corn crop has been harvested, which is 10 days behind the five-year average. Meanwhile, 91% of soybeans have been harvested, one week behind average. ISU Extension Field Agronomist Meaghan Anderson says things have seemed bleak this harvest season, but points out there is hope for the rest of November. “The snow has slowed things up significantly, as well as maybe some issues with propane availability for drying corn. So it’s just been one delay after another this year, it seems like. It looks like we’re going to warm up a little bit here, so I’d expect that we will be able to get the crop out this fall. Though there’s a chance, you know every once in a while we’ll see a field that will have to wait til spring. But they will be harvested.”

Anderson adds, so far crops are still mostly standing strong and dealing with the complicated weather as well as could be expected. Additionally, she says while it’s good to see this kind of resiliency from the crops, it’s not something farmers will want to bank on every year.