Despite ongoing drought conditions, the harvest season has produced good yields in 2023. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says that while some places throughout the state have faced challenges during the harvest, many farmers have seen good crop growth this year.

“As it relates to the crop, we know that there are places in the state that just simply ran out of water, the crop just couldn’t hit its maximum yield potential. And yet, there are places that even though you’d say we didn’t get all the rain that we wanted or would normally expect to, we are still seeing phenomenal yields. And so, I think it’s just a testament to the resiliency of the crop, the genetics, the traits, how we manage a crop, but it’s also a testament to timely rain and we have seen that throughout the state of Iowa. So you’re going to have a lot of variability.”

Hear more from Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig on today’s In Touch with South Central Iowa.