Heavy rain a blessing and a curse for Siouxland farmers

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — The constant rain has stopped farmers from entering their fields, leaving many with half their fields planted and wondering when they can get back out there.

“About two weeks ago, we had a stretch about three or four days that we could get some planting done,” Ireton crop farmer Tyler Meyer said. “And since then, it has been nothing but wet weather.”

According to Iowa State Extension and Outreach field agronomist Leah Ten Napel, since April 15, a portion of northwest Iowa has received between five and seven inches of rain.

“We have a number or an amount of water that soil can hold,” Ten Napel said. “It’s looking like many of those soils are very close to or at field capacity. So that’s where we’re going to be seeing this ponding start to happen, and it’s not good planting conditions.”

“We don’t want to jump the gun here,” Meyer said. “We are wet. We got moisture. It all starts in the spring. You can’t combine what you don’t plant, and so if we screw something up today, we’re not going to like harvest.”

However, despite Meyer’s concerns, many farmers are relieved to see rain once again.

“From what I’m hearing and from what I’m seeing out in the fields, the plants that are coming up, are looking really good,” Ten Napel said. “So we’re excited and happy about that.”

“Rain makes grain, and we do have water to make it happen,” Meyer said. “It’s been since August of about 2020 ,we’ve been running on fumes and we’ve been fortunate [to get] hit and miss storms, but this spring resembles 2019 when we had adequate moisture. So water is what makes everything go round and round in this world.”

Ten Napel said that while last week’s rain put a large dent in northwest Iowa’s drought, farmers will still need those timely rains to get through the summer.

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