Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

This post’s photos of the golden combined corn field were taken yesterday (August 24, 2012) just north of Churdan, Iowa, in Greene County. The photo of the lush green corn field was taken eleven days prior (August 13) about fifty miles further northwest in Pocahontas County. What a contrast, almost entirely due to the different amounts of precipitation, in fields just fifty miles apart.

Corn combining in Iowa usually doesn’t start until mid-September (and even then, it is a little early). Widespread combining in Iowa in August, like the state is experiencing in 2012, is extremely rare.

Aside from small pockets in the state of Iowa that were blessed to receive more timely rains, the larger area in the state of Iowa that did receive those more timely rains is the four-county area including Pocahontas, Buena Vista, Palo Alto and Clay counties, and the fringe areas of adjacent counties. (Otherwise, aside from those pockets, four counties and fringes, the rest of Iowa is in a serious state of drought.)

In general, states across the Cornbelt experienced similar drought conditions like that shown in these photos where combining has already occurred, and sometimes much worse (although Minnesota fared better than some of the other Cornbelt states). In some areas the corn fields are in such a bad state they are chopped instead of combined.

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August 24, 2012: About two miles north of Churdan, Iowa, in Greene County. This field is in a severe drought area. (Click once on the image to enlarge; twice to further enlarge.)

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The photo immediately below was taken eleven days earlier (August 13). Because they were not taken on the same day, admittedly the photos are not comparing apples to apples. Still, the contrast due to the above (Greene County) photo being in a drought area and the (Pocahontas County) photo below being in an area receiving more timely rains is obvious.

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August 13, 2012: Section 24, Roosevelt Township, Pocahontas County, Iowa. While this field/area has received less-than-typical precipitation in 2012, this field is not in a severe drought area. (Photo taken by Abby Shimon. Click on the image to enlarge; click twice to magnify the almost-full ears.)

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Click on any thumbnail to enlarge the image and/or to move through the images in slideshow view. After clicking on a thumbnail, to enlarge the photo even more, click on the “View Full Size” link.

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(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)

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