With just a couple of months left to go in the growing season for corn, one expert looks at Greene County’s production.

According to the latest Crop Progress and Condition Report from the Iowa Department of Agriculture, last week 82 percent of corn statewide was in the dough stage. Landus Cooperative Field Agronomist Dan Bjorklund explains what that is and that he agrees with the state report that most of the corn fields in Greene County are also at this stage.

“Dough stage is when those kernels aren’t very milky. If you pop a kernel the inside of that kernel has thickened quite a bit. So dough is very comparable to what that would be. So that’s the stage that we’re in.”  

Bjorklund points out two pests that are still problematic, including tar spot and southern rust. He says tar spot was a larger issue in the earlier stages of corn development, but he is seeing fields with lots of impact and were treated. He explains that southern rust started appearing the first week of August as an orange round colored lesion on corn leaves that has been found locally in the Jefferson area.

“And they tell us it came up from that Hurricane Beryl that came through Texas, it didn’t get all the way up here (to Iowa), but the rust was carried on the winds and probably dropped in our area about middle of July. (It) took it about ten days to get it going, so we’ve seen it really for the last two to three weeks.” 

The Crop Progress and Condition Report estimated statewide corn to be at 77 percent good to excellent and Bjorklund believes corn fields in Greene County to be higher than that with great yield potential expected.