Plant 2026 is underway for farmers in Northwest Iowa, including Matt McCarthy who started planting this week.
USDA’s crop progress report showed Iowa farmers have just 1% of the corn planted compared to the 2% average.
According to USDA’s Prospective Plantings report farmers in Iowa intended to plant 450,000 less acres of corn this year and shift those over to soybeans.
Corn is King in Northwest Iowa
However, that may not be the case for McCarthy and others in Northwest Iowa where corn is king.
“Nope, I haven’t switched any acres,” McCarthy said. “I think we’re heavily corn acres in this county, and we have probably better corn farms than bean farms. So, the rotation guys will stay with their rotation. And I think some of the corn on corn, as long as there’s manure involved, we’ll stay corn on the corn.”
He’s not alone, McCarthy’s seed customers and other farmers in Northwest Iowa are also planting corn on corn.
Typically half of the area in his area are either continuous corn or planted corn on corn for two years, with soybeans rotated in the third year.
And he with the use of livestock manure he has not seen any yield drag.
“Some of my best yields or the best yields were continuous corn fields last year,” he said.
Livestock Drives Corn Production
McCarthy said corn’s reign is due to the concentration of cattle and hog production in northwest Iowa.
He believes livestock manure aids in soil fertility and allows them to grow continuous corn, which is in demand as a feed source.
The availability of manure helps cut fertilizer costs which have increased from last fall due to war in Iran.
McCarthy said his bill for 32% is up from $250 to $275 a ton from last fall. “That’s the highest I think I’ve ever paid,” he said.
However, the inability to source fertilizer is not a concern as most farmers in the area already applied anhydrous ammonia and spread manure last fall.
Disease and Weed Control
Disease isn’t deterring McCarthy or other farmers from planting corn either, even though Southern Rust was heavy in spots in 2025.
He said growers understand this disease better than past years and the timing of fungicides leaving them more confident about planting corn again this year. “If you’re a guy that does corn on corn, I think you’ll go back to the corn,” McCarthy said.
However, he ramped up his weed control program due to resistance issues like water hemp.
Planting Progress Slightly Behind
Planting progress is behind last spring due to heavy rains and cold soils but McCarthy historically starts planting right after the insurance date, so he’s not concerned.
“No, I think that if we look at historically, we’re not usually planting till the 20th of April. So I think we’re fine, just everyone’s probably antsy to get out there. I think the early corn plantings do have an advantage. So, I think everybody wants to get going.”
Still, he’s thankful for the moisture since it was a fairly open winter.
“We were generally pretty dry this winter.,” he said, “When we warmed up in February into March, we were dry, and now that we just got two inches, we’re in pretty good shape to get the crop started.”
And a good start to the crop is a big key to high yields, which leaves McCarthy optimistic about the season.
