Snowfall at the beginning of last week limited Iowa farmers to 4.7 days suitable for fieldwork, according to the latest Crop Progress and Conditions Report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA states that 77% of the corn for grain crop has been harvested, 10 days behind last year and 12 days behind the five-year average. Ninety-five percent of the soybean crop has been harvested, over one week behind average. ISU Extension and Outreach Agronomist Mike Witt says if there were no delays such as weather and propane shortages, Guthrie County producers could get the harvest completed in one week’s time. While farmers would have preferred being done before Thanksgiving, Witt says they’re aiming to be out of the fields by December 1st.

He says frequent comments he’s received from local producers are about factors delaying the harvest, “And number two is making sure that you have a plan for your fall nitrogen or your manure applications if you are going to do that. Figure out what we’re going to do as far as those go with this getting cold temperatures and getting warmer again you know, and it’s getting on into December. Making sure we can either get what we need put on the fields, or have a plan for the spring right away in order to do that. Those are the big things that a lot of people are looking at is even though they’re still waiting to harvest their last few acres, they’re working on other fields as well. So making sure that you have those plans is very important.”

Besides harvesting corn and soybeans, fieldwork activities last week also included baling corn stalks, applying anhydrous and fertilizer, and fall tillage.