Brandon Vorthmann farms near Treynor in Pottawattamie County growing corn and soybeans. He also runs a custom spraying and fertilizer business. The farm includes two employees, and Vorthmann’s son Jack, 18, is planning to come home to farm after attending John Deere’s machinery training program.

We only got a little rain from the storm Thursday and another two-tenths on Easter Sunday. It was kind of disappointing. Our soybeans are planted. We are just getting ready to start on corn. This is the first year that we started with beans. Most of the area got a good start on planting over the last couple weeks. I would say right now we are a little bit ahead of schedule. We also finished fertilizing pastures last week.

We are about half done planting corn, and we are done with beans. We did get some rain last week that slowed things down. I think we just planted for two days. It’s been pretty cloudy, so the soil is not drying up real fast. We are thinking about going out and planting today (Monday). I am seeing some beans starting to emerge and did see some corn emerging. We definitely have needed the moisture.

A lot of corn is starting to come up. I think corn planning is about done in our area, and many will get going on beans this week with the good forecast. I would say about 50% or so of the beans are done. Pastures are really growing. We were fortunate to have some nice showers in our area last week.

There is still some crop going in. Corn is pretty well done. There are still beans being planted, and I would think this week most of those will be wrapped up. The heat is helping push the crop along. It is getting dry, however. We are in good shape with our spraying. A lot of the crop is emerging.

Half inch of much-needed rain overnight with more forecast for today. Planting is mostly wrapped up in the area. Crops came up good, but some corn had to be replanted due to anhydrous burn — even some fall applied. First-cutting hay has been going up.

Things look good right now. We do need some heat, and we only got a half inch of rain last week when other parts of the region got more. So, we are still short of moisture. We are starting to do post-emergence spraying with the corn. We are ahead of schedule on that. Most of the planting around here is wrapped up. The crop has a good color, so it’s off to a good start.

Corn is off to a good start. The corn stands look good. The bean stands are a little spotty at the moment. We are definitely dry and need some rain. We did finish up our post spraying on corn. We finally got some heat over the weekend, and that’s helped a lot. We are hoping for a good shot of rain from the storm tonight (Monday).

Crops look good. We got about an inch of rain last week. We are finally starting to get some hot weather. The corn is pretty much sprayed in our area. Soybeans are spotty in some areas, but they’re coming along. Many are just getting started on spraying soybeans. We are seeing some weeds starting to come in, so we need to get things done.

The early-planted corn has canopied. We got started doing some post spraying of beans last week. We definitely need some rain. Sound like there’s a good chance over the next couple days or so.

The crop still looks pretty good despite the hot weather and winds. We’re definitely in need of some rain. Last week we had an 80% chance one day and got nothing out of it. This latest forecast for rain sounds more promising. Our sweet corn is starting to tassel. I think the choppers will be coming in soon to spray fungicide in the next week or so. So far the crop has been handling this heat pretty well.

We finally got some good soaking rains throughout the area with many areas getting 4 inches or more over a few days. Most of it soaked in nicely. There are still a few beans that need post sprayed. A lot of them have canopied. The corn had been stressed from hot and dry conditions but looks great after the rains.

We got some nice rains over the holiday weekend. The early corn is starting to tassel and looks excellent. A little tar spot has been found in the area. Helicopters are starting to apply fungicide. Most of the bean spraying has been done in my area.

Everything looks pretty good right now. We started spraying fungicide on the corn last week. We had some nice sunny days to do that. We are seeing some high counts of western bean cutworm in the corn, and that could really impact yields. Helicopters are getting busy spraying in our area. I think the bean spraying is done. We had some nice rains last week. Topsoil is in pretty good shape.

We have had scattered rain and storms the past week. I had a little greensnap on a couple of hybrids. The corn is mostly pollinated and we’re spraying fungicide and insecticide on beans. We are having to mow the yard every six days, which has not been the norm in July for several years.

Corn fungicide is wrapping up. Bean fungicide is going on. Crop conditions continue to be favorable. It's nice to get rains in July for a change.

We’ve had cooler temperatures the past few days. Bean fungicide is mostly wrapped up. Southern rust is showing up in the corn, and in some fields even where fungicide was applied. With the wet weather we’ve had, it’s been difficult for guys to get hay put up in good condition.

Crops have continued to progress. We had 5 inches of rain locally Saturday night. A lot of SDS is showing up in the beans. Some southern rust is showing in the corn. Guys have struggled to get hay put up dry.

Crops look good. Some of the corn actually has come along in the last week. We do have some southern rust in some corn. We also have some SDS in the beans. I think most have given up on spraying for the year. Some corn is denting. It’s been tougher to get hay baled with the moisture we have had recently.

I had to put a jacket on this morning (Monday) with temps in the 40s. It’s a nice change from the heat and humidity. The crop has developed rapidly. Disease continues to be the story here. Southern rust in corn and SDS in beans are causing some fields to turn early. Armyworms have been hitting some alfalfa fields, with gall midge around the edges of some bean fields. Overall prospects still look good, however.

Sunny and cooler this past week. The crop has really started turning. Earliest corn is just reaching black layer. Most still has a ways to go. Cattle guys will probably start chopping this week.

It’s been cooler weather this past week. Feels like fall. We got a couple inches of rain also. The cattle feeders have started chopping. I'm hearing that yields are a little disappointing.

Harvest is getting going around here, about a week ahead of normal it seems. Early yield reports on corn are disappointing, especially on anything that didn't get fungicide. A few early bean reports are pretty decent.

More people are getting going when it comes to harvest. A few beans have been cut, and the yields have been good. We picked some corn, but it's still pretty wet. Yields are good if you used fungicide. Some guys have gotten into some drier corn and made good progress. It's still pretty early.

Bean harvest is in full swing here. Moisture levels have dropped to 9%, which is frustrating, but yields are generally good. With no rain in the forecast, harvest should progress rapidly this week.

We finished up beans and got back to harvesting corn. It really dried down with the warm and windy conditions last week. Yields are running on either side of average. I had one load rejected due to aflatoxin, but it doesn’t sound like it’s a widespread issue. We received a very welcome inch of rain Sunday night.

Harvest has been coming along nicely. Corn moisture has dropped to the low- to mid-teens. There’s still a fair amount of beans coming out of the fields. No frost in the forecast yet, which is much later than normal.

We are a couple days from wrapping up harvest. Most still have a ways to go. Both corn and soybeans are coming out in our area. We still haven’t had our first frost, but temperatures are cooler this week. Corn has been coming out dry and beans are a little on the wet side with overnight showers or heavy dews. I’m hoping to start applying lime and fertilizer late this week.

We wrapped up harvest last week, but most guys are still going. Rain is in the forecast this week, so that should slow harvest down a little. We’ve had cooler temps, but we still haven’t had a hard freeze. We’ve started applying lime and fall tillage and will start fall spraying after the rain. I haven’t seen any anhydrous going on yet, but with highs in the 50s all week, I expect to see a few rigs running by Halloween.

We got a good start on fall work, but an inch of rain last week kept us out of the field for a few days. Most guys are close to finishing up harvest. Strong winds blew some corn down in spots, but not too bad. Anhydrous will probably start going on around here this week.

We had a pretty good year. We got the crop off to a good start even though bean stands were a little thin. We had good rains through summer and were looking at a record crop, but disease pressure later in the season trimmed some yield off. Yields were still at average production history or above for us, but if you didn’t use fungicide they were well below APH. Since this is my last report, I want to give a shout out to my No. 1 fan, Dave K. from Minden!