Variable yields as Iowa harvest winding down

Disease pressure, weather challenges shape 2025 growing season. Farmers concerned about tight margins, high input costs heading into 2026.

Combines continue to roll this week as Iowa farmers wrap up harvest amid falling temperatures, rain showers and a wintry precipitation mix, with some snow reported in northern parts of the state over the past weekend.

Overall, weather has been conducive to a fast harvest, though intermittent rain delayed fieldwork in some areas for a day or two.

Farmers report variable yields in 2025. Southern rust affected numerous cornfields, while sudden death syndrome limited top-end soybean yields in affected areas.

Marshall County Farm Bureau member Brandon Pickard of Melbourne said last week he had about seven days left on the combine as his family finishes harvest on 5,200 acres of corn and 1,000 acres of soybeans.

"Harvest has gone really well … we've got seven or eight ...