Crop Talk by IAS – 04/07/26

Crop Talk by IAS – Field Scouting Update | Week of April 7

Spring is testing patience—and timing could make all the difference.

In this week’s Crop Talk Field Scouting Update, our IAS agronomy team shares what they’re seeing across the territory after widespread rainfall slows fieldwork. While conditions may have put a pause on progress, this is a critical window for planning, preparation, and making the right calls before wheels hit the field.

You’ll hear updates from across Iowa, including where fieldwork stands today, what to watch as soils begin to dry, and how to set yourself up for success when the next window opens.

This week’s highlights:
• Field conditions remain saturated with 2–4+ inches of recent rainfall across regions 
• Ammonia and dry fertilizer applications nearing completion in some areas
• Importance of avoiding compaction and not rushing into wet fields
• Seed planning, inventory checks, and hybrid placement decisions
• Watching soil temperatures—targeting 50°F and rising before planting
• Understanding risks like sidewall compaction and uneven emergence
• Safety reminders when handling insecticides and smart boxes

As always, these are local, boots-on-the-ground insights to help you make confident decisions—because sometimes the best move right now…is patience.
 
Featured agronomists this week include: Nicholas Giessman (Host), Nick Thompson, Melissa Schumann and Owen Heetland

🎧 Listen now
Have a question for the team? Send it to CropTalk@InnovativeAg.com

To learn more about Innovative Ag Services and our agronomy services, visit InnovativeAg.com/Agronomy.

Produced by IAS Communications in partnership with My Four Creative.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Crop Talk, brought to you by Innovative Ed Services, and this is our field scouting special. Each week from March through October, our agronomy team shares timely, boots on the ground updates from across the IAS geography so you can make confident decisions as the seasons change. Today you'll hear a quick regional update from our IAS agronomist, including what we're seeing in the fields right now, what to keep an eye on next, and a few practical scouting reminders you can put to work this week. Thanks, Nicholas.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

This is Nick Thompson from the Southwest, covering Story County, Hardin County, and Hamilton County. For our safety update this week, it's going to be based mainly around smart boxes and the insecticides inside of them. Make sure when you're calibrating your smart boxes that you always wear a glove and mask, as even the dust from these products can be highly effective on your lungs. Wash your hands thoroughly and avoid touching your face at all times while you're dealing with these products, as they are highly toxic and highly dangerous. For our scouting update in this region, we're looking around 48 degrees for soil temps. As we go further north, we're starting to see a little bit of a temperature drop off, but no more than about two degrees. Obviously, it's been raining a lot. It's very wet out here, and I'd be very careful not to push anything and get into the fields too quickly. Now's a great time for you to be developing your plans for planting and figuring out what hybrids are going in which field. As you probably talked about that in the wintertime, it's still very relevant as we get here to spring. Next, I will pass it over to Owen in our northwest region.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Hey guys, this is Olin Heatland at the Cleves location covering Hardwood, Franklin, Grundy, and Butler County. Kind of to go off what Nick said, it is very wet. We received between four and four and a half inches of rain here last Thursday, Friday, and maybe a little bit Saturday. So kind of at a standstill. Ammonia is 80 to 90% done. Dry fertilizer is in that same area. Looks like we're going to be wet through this week and maybe in the next week with some cooler temperatures. So making sure that we've got equipment ready. And then, like Nick said, making sure we've got a planning plan ready as far as what seed goes in what fields. And then go so far as to look at cold germ and germ tests on different numbers and emergence tests and make sure that we're not pushing things too hard and causing compaction, wet, cold germ issues the rest of the year. With that, I will kick it over to Melissa in the Northeast region.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Thank you, Owen. My name is Melissa Schumann, and I am out of the Al Qaeda office covering the northeast corner of Iowa, specifically Clayton and Fayette counties here. Big watch out for our area is know your individual field conditions. With the widespread rain, we saw a range of anywhere from two to four inches of rain. So even just across the fence line, field conditions have quite a variance of wetness to them. So be sure you're checking your fields for washouts prior to planting to avoid any mishaps once we are able to get out into the field and check that all tile outlets are draining properly. Here we are utilizing the rainy days to organize seed and take inventory. Make sure you, as the producer, have enough seed and enough of the right seed for your operation. In case you changed any acres over, now is a good time to get that organized. And if you need to procure any more additional seed, check with your local agronomist to make sure you've got that all locked in and ready to go. As always, remember planning ahead can help ensure the best possible outcome as we get closer to that insurance plant date. Make sure you have proper seedbed preparation and the field conditions are ready for planting to help avoid timely and costly situations in the future for this year. And with that, I'm going to kick it down to the Southeast region.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Thank you very much, Melissa. This is Nicholas Giesman. I am covering Jackson and Dubuque County over here in the southeast. About like everybody else, we had about two to three inches of rain. Kind of depending on where you were, maybe a little less. We are looking today to spots to get back in the field where it's sandier. Got a few guys talking about pulling some ammonia, few and far in between, as most of the ground is still fairly wet. I'm looking at preparing for when we do get another run. As we're only about 60% done with ammonia and 70% done with dry, you know, we're looking at when are we going to get in the field. So everybody's kind of preparing, making sure your equipment's ready, making sure you got seed on hand, chemicals on hand to start doing burndowns here when it gets fit. Otherwise, we're waiting for this mother nature to get some sun, dry out the fields, and get back in there. Some big watch outs for this time of year. We're going to talk soil temp and planting emergence. We kind of hit on that a little bit with different seeds and having a cold emergence score and germination, but I'm going to send it over to Owen. He's going to give us a little more in-depth on when to look for planting, what temperature, and what really comes to it when you're picking your seed and why it matters.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

So the biggest thing that we want to start talking about is soil temps of 50 degrees. We always want to look to start when the soil temp is 50 and rising. We don't really ever want to plant when we see 50 and falling. And once we see that, you know, we're good to go. But the biggest issue then is looking at a future forecast. And as we get to a point where we're going to get rain, is that rain going to warm or cool the soil? And if it does cool the soil, we need to stop planting before we get to that point because that will cause what is called inhibitional chewing, and that will cause our germination to struggle or even grow down and then grow back up. So the biggest thing is just watching the forecast, looking at your soil temp, and then picking seed that you know will handle that situation better. Decide what seed is best to start and what seed you would use later on in the season as your planting progresses. And any of ergonomists would be more than happy to help you with that.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

Oh, and I'd like to jump in here and ask you a quick question. If this rain keeps coming and we don't see a consistent dry break, what impacts on your crop could you have if you go out there and start planting when it's too wet out?

SPEAKER_02 6:38

That's a very good question, Nick. So the first thing is unfortunately the best option is to be patient, which is hard for everybody. If a guy plants too wet, you can see sidewall compaction or sidewall smearing, clottiness from working the ground when it's too wet. Eventually, a long time from now, we would start to switch hybrids maybe to our earlier number, but we've got a month and a half before you know that decision needs to be made. So, like I said, the biggest thing right now is just to be patient and look for good soil conditions and warming temps more so than anything else.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Thank you very much for that, Owen. That's some great insight and some very valuable knowledge to kick off your season on the right note. That's all for this week's Crop Talk by AS. Thanks for tuning in. If any of our listeners have questions, feel free to email them to Croptalk at innovativeag.com. Be sure to like, follow, and subscribe so you don't miss next week's update. And if you know a fellow grower who'd value a quick field snapshot, share this episode with them. For more agronomy resources and to connect with your local IAS team, visit Innovativeag.com and follow Innovative Ag Services on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. We'll catch you next week on Crop Talk.