Some Iowa Farmers Already Planting 2024 Crops

With the recent warm weather, tractors have already begun chugging away as Iowa farmers have started the planting season. 

ISU Extension field agronomist Angie Rieck-Hinz says she’s seeing plenty of activity in the northern part of the state. 

While the new map released last Thursday (04.11) by the Iowa Drought Monitor shows slight improvements in all categories, there’s still a big splotch of red in northeast and east-central Iowa indicating extreme drought and an estimated 32% of the state remains under severe or extreme drought. 

Rieck-Hinz says, as always, rain will be key in the success of this next crop.

The short-term forecast called for rain much of Tuesday (04.16).