Field Notes Talks Corn Condition with Iowa Farmer April Hemmes

This week, the National Corn Growers Association continued its eighth season of Field Notes, a series that takes readers behind the farm gate to follow the year in the life of American farm families. While these growers come from diverse geographic areas and run unique operations, they share a common love for U.S. agriculture and the basic values that underpin life in farming communities.

Today, Field Notes caught up with April Hemmes, who farms in northern Iowa. Like many in her state, corn has just begun hitting the range in which it will be dry enough to harvest.

With her combine still in the shed, moisture checks of her fields have provided Hemmes with some initial insight into the condition of her corn crop this year.

“The corn conditions in my area are fairly good,” she said. “At some meetings last week, I heard concerns from producers in southern Iowa who were in an area that had experienced drought conditions. A big wind came there as well. So, they had fields that had been flattened. A lot of us in Iowa, with the heavy rains that we had last week, are concerned about stalk conditions. People who may have waited to have their fields dry down might get into their fields and harvest a little bit earlier.

“Today, I have heard reports from people who chop silage, and they are seeing yields that are more varied than they have seen other years. It is all over the board with reports ranging from 100 bushel per acre corn to 250.”

To listen to the full interview, click here.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks as Field Notes follows the growers who have opened their farms, families and communities up this year and meet the true faces of modern American agriculture.