The latest U.S. Drought Monitor Report released Thursday showed little change in drought conditions in Iowa in the past week.
Angie Rieck-Hinz, a field agronomist for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, tells RadioOnTheGo News that while this time of year is usually dry, there is still time for drought conditions to improve before the 2025 spring planting season.
“Ideally what we would want is some rain that soaks into the ground and provides us a little bit more moisture than snow. So I would hope if we’re going to get some moisture, it comes in February, March, maybe later this month as rain. Just simply from the standpoint of it tends to soak into the ground. We obviously get more moisture content out of rain than we do out of snow. So if farmers were looking for something, they’d want it all to happen in late February, early March before they start their fieldwork activities. We are behind on moisture. Whether we can make up that deficit before planting season gets here or not is kind of questionable at this point in time, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
The latest drought monitor report shows that over 55% of the state is in a moderate drought, including much of the RadioOnTheGo broadcast area except in southwestern Hardin County, where abnormally dry conditions are reported.
