INDIANOLA, Iowa — Mike Penick farms over 1,000 acres across parts of Polk and Warren counties. He hasn't seen many problems with the fields he's harvested so far this year.
"Right now we're having a whole lot better yields than we ever expected to have with the dry weather this summer. We had no rain in July at all," Penick told Local 5 Tuesday.
He says it's a top-10 yield year for him, maybe even a top-5 once everything is said and done.
This is all in spite of the prolonged dry stretch across Iowa in the summer months. But according to the State of Iowa Climatologist Justin Glisan, once the rain came, it was just in the nick of time.
"These are what the farmers call a million-dollar rainfall. Then we don't have a precipitation deficit stacking up," Glisan said.
Penick has seen such success, he's getting a head start on his expenses for 2023.
"We actually have already started to pay the bills for next year's crop," Penick added.
Results will vary across the state, but Glisan expects a solid yield for most this year, albeit likely not as strong as 2021.
"From listening to field agronomists and farmers out there, it looks like we could have another good year," he said.