The weekly Iowa crop and weather report shows only half of the state’s corn crop and just 56 percent of the state’s soybeans are rated in the good to excellent categories. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says it’s caused by a combination of drought conditions, particularly in western Iowa, plus the August 10th derecho hit fields where strongly yields had been projected.

Naig says high temperatures over the next several days will create more stress on the 2020 crop. Pasture conditions for livestock have deteriorated over the past week. Federal officials are giving some farmers in the driest parts of the state permission to use conservation reserve acres for hay or as grazing land for cattle and other livestock.