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Rain Could Help SE Iowa Soybeans

The rainfall from Hurricane Isaac is both good and bad news for southeast Iowa farmers.

Bob Dodds with Iowa State University Extension says the good news is for soybean farmers.

He says soybeans mature much later than corn, so soybeans planted later in the season could actually benefit from the recent rainfall.

Dodds expects farmers to start harvesting their soybeans in about three weeks.

The bad news is for the farmers who had already started harvesting their corn prior to last Friday.

The rain made the fields too muddy for heavy machinery.

Dodds says, despite the slight delay, southeast Iowa's corn should be harvested before the end of the month, which is much earlier than normal.

He attributes that to smaller, drought-damaged yields and the fact that corn is requiring less drying before storage.

Dodds says he is hearing a few reports of solid corn yields and others where the farmers simply chopped down their crops for livestock food.

He says, despite the rain, it is important for farmers to keep their implements clean and lubricated to prevent field fires while harvesting.

Jason Parrott is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.