Iowa crops are maturing at a faster rate than years past.

According to the latest Crop Progress and Condition report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, corn has reached 11% maturity, 18 days ahead of last year, and six days ahead of the average. Corn is also 95% in the dough stage or beyond, more than two-weeks ahead of last year and six days ahead of the five-year average. Soybeans setting pods are two-weeks ahead of last year’s pace and four days ahead of the 96% average. Soybeans coloring reached 29%, which is the highest percentage of soybeans coloring by August 30 since 2012. 

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Field Ergonomist Meaghan Anderson tells Raccoon Valley Radio the rapid maturation of crops is largely due to the severe drought conditions, “All summer long we’ve been incredibly dry and we’ve gotten a little bit of rain here and there in that Dallas and Boone county area, but it is just not enough to prevent the soil moisture from decreasing quite dramatically. Essentially we have capped out most of the moisture that is available for the corn crop in July in a lot of cases and with the soybean crop, we were really holding out hope we’d get some rainfall in August. It came a little bit but it didn’t really come in the way we needed that rainfall to.”

As crops march towards maturity, motorists should be looking out for farm vehicles on the roads since farmers will likely start harvesting sooner than usual.