From Dana Burmeister via Facebook

1/2 inch overnight @ Mt. Auburn, IA

From Adam White

1/2 inch at our plot near Rowley, IA

From Brett Vogel

.6 at the seed shop in Independence

From Sarah Schwab via Facebook

We have to get a single drop first in Indiana.  Glad someone is getting it. Please send East!

From Ben Donnlley

3/4" in Vinton, IA

Weather Radar

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Text your local rainfall totals to 319-327-0806! Rainfall list will be posted to the blog as received

For the Record –

The United States is NOT a Democracy.   It is a Republic (or at least it is supposed to be).   In a Democracy the majority rules, while in a Republic the individual is protected from the majority.

As seen on Kit Pharo email blast

Breeding Season

Getting ready to cidr a couple of heifers #lovemylife -- Jennifer Campbell (@plowwife)

Drastic Measures

Found my first field of "rootless corn" today flopping in the breeze Almost puked, might make a grown man cry or drink if nothing else -- Steve Pitstick (@PitstickFarms)

2nd Fiddle, Tentement on Wheels, Emporium

By Pete Burmeister on

News From The Coffee Shop

May 29, 2012 5:03 PM

My brother is a good fisherman. Regardless of the location, he is usually the one in the boat that catches the first fish, the biggest fish, and the most fish (much like reading the Dr. Sesus book). While that means I usually play 2nd fiddle in the boat, I'm still willing to give it a go, hoping some of his knowledge and ability rubs off on me. This time it did! We fished the Brainerd. MN Lakes area this past weekend with hopes of landing a lunker Walleye or two. After hitting the local Super Walmart (local Walmart- wow that's an oxymoron) at midnight on Friday for a fishing license and a $100 worth of tackle, we got some shuteye before launching the boat at 5:30 AM the next morning. To my surprise, the fishing started out hot. The first cast resulted in a nice 17" Large mouth Bass. Moments later, a decent Northern Pike and a "pig" Bluegill (again, with the oxymoron's). Joe snagged a worthless Rock Bass-- beady red eyes and all! Little did he know at the time that it'd be his last fish of the day. An hour later I netted a 16" Walleye and somehow hooked the same boat rope twice while trolling one of the breaks in Gull Lake. Things went cold after that. The fish quit biting, the wind picked up and the temperature didn't get over 50 degrees the rest of the day. I'm not complaining, because I love to fish. But, the combination of those weather conditions and lack of getting so much as a bite over the next 7 hours made for a damn long day.

We didn't out class anyone with our travel rig. Our camping and fishing equipment was fairly outdated (almost vintage) compared with most of what we saw going down the road and on the various lakes we fished. While the photo above wasn't our exact setup, it does help paint a picture of what we probably looked like as we navigated it through nearly 100 small scenic towns throughout Minnesota over the weekend. We caught a lot of blank stares and eye rolls over three days of traveling. I figure most folks were reminded of Cousin Eddie's Tenement on Wheels in the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. "Don't worry, we're taking it with us when we leave next month"! Nonetheless, it was a cheap way to travel and quite convenient to boot. We did our traveling at night and then woke up each morning right on a new lake ready to fish. You might think an outfit like that would be prone to breakdowns; however, other than a tie-down strap for the camper snapping, our equipment ran like that proverbial ape.  

We ran across a great place to eat on Saturday night, Benson's in Walker, MN. It was by accident that we stumbled into the place. Pizza is their speciality and it was good, but the atmosphere and service was great! Turns out our server was the owner's son and a character at that. My brother Joe is adamant you can tell the locals from the tourists in northern Minnesota simply due to their lack of fashion sense. After studying the staff at Benson's Eating & Drinking Emporium, I'm beginning to think he's on to something. Regardless, we both got a chuckle out of our server's sense of humor and the men's restroom... by only 7 PM the toilet door was ripped off, the flushing lever was lying on the floor and the garbage was overflowing to say the least. Evidently that's common. When I asked our server about it, he said he just usually goes across the street to the BP gas station and uses their facilities. Don't let the restrooms scare you, the place had done over $50,000 in business that day and had the rest of the night yet to go. Here's the web link, http://bensonsemporium.com/ if you're ever in the area it's an experience you don't want to miss.

EC IOWA CROP REPORT

Received 1/2" rain here. 15 miles south nothing, 15 miles north up to 2". Corn is going through "ugly stage " here (some plants seem to be outgrowing others). Overall corn looks ok with some trouble spots around. Beans are emerging if they had enough moisture to get started. Most all first crop hay is done (2-3 weeks ahead of normal)...sent in by Scott Hingtgen- Jackson County, IA

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2012 Crop Tour

2012 CROP TOUR INFORMATION

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Check back for updates

May Drought Monitor

Drought monitor as expected -- reflecting spread of drought across Corn Belt & Plains. #pfnews http://t.co/7m99jwUs -- Julianne Johnston (@JuliJohnston)

Record Breaking

Local news this morning: Record for most consecutive days (14) in May without rain set in eastern IA. Weird that 2 wks is a record. #pfnews -- Chip Flory (@ChipFlory)

Scouting... from Corn & Soybean Digest

#Corn & #soybean seedling diseases are being reported in IA. Check your fields if you planted early this year. http://t.co/hJyaDXHL #grow12 -- Corn-Soybean Digest (@csdigest)

AQUAMAX

This is what a pioneer Aquamax plot looks like on fieldview... http://t.co/Aaqujxso -- Jerod McDaniel (@jerodmcdaniel)

Soybean planting ahead of last year

#Soybean planting is 76% complete, which compares to 35% complete at this time last year and 42% on avg. 35% of the crop is emerged #pfnews -- Meghan Pedersen (@MeghanPedersen)

US Corn Yield

Rabobank projects U.S. corn yield of 157 bpa, says USDA's 166 bpa is not a "reasonable base case for planning and marketing purposes" -- Ian Berry (@enberry)

2012 Crop Tour Planning Meeting

Scheduled for 7:30 PM, Wed., May 23, 2012 at Henderson Event Center. Please attend if you're interested in helping plan this year's event.

Special Breed

Today, we salute the farm wives and moms who are the backbone of U.S. agriculture. http://t.co/ASzZoykA -- BEEF Magazine (@BEEFMagazine)

Corn Crop Ratings

Tomorrow afternoon's first corn crop ratings of the season will be critical for setting the tone for new-crop prices $ZC_F #Farm -- Arlan Suderman (@ArlanFF101)

Start of a weather market?

Warm and dry boosting markets. Heard all weekend "we need rain bad" and "not enough moisture to even get things up". Getting interesting. -- Jason Britt (@jasonlbritt)