Row Crops Today — June 16, 2026
The 5-minute 5 AM brief for row crop producers and ag professionals
Headline Stack
🌧️ Greensnap, hail, and flooding hit corn and soybeans across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio
🌽 Iowa corn good-to-excellent falls 5 points to 79%, soybeans drop 6 points to 77%
🫘 Iowa State: soybeans submerged 2–3 days can lose 50% of yield; skip fungicide on hail
💰 EPA RFS proposal through 2027 lifts soybean oil futures, draws ASA support
📊 USDA Crop Progress: 94% of corn emerged, 95% of soybeans planted nationally
Top Story
🌧️ Storms, hail, and flooding test corn and soybeans across four Corn Belt states. — LINK
Severe weather across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio left cornfields leaning, root-lodged, greensnapped, and submerged this week, with Illinois recording 2 to 7 inches of rain June 10–11 and parts of northern Indiana taking more than 4 inches in 24 hours. Most Iowa corn sits between V4 and V10, where leaning plants should right themselves with minimal yield loss — but greensnap plants are a total loss, according to Iowa State Extension agronomists. Past research shows leaning or lodging in V10–V12 corn may reduce yields by 2% to 6%, while greensnap plants cannot be recovered. "The southern parts of the state were hit the hardest by flooding and saturated soils, with localized areas in the central part of the state this week," said Dan Quinn, Purdue University Extension corn specialist, who reported uneven and yellowing corn from a lack of soil oxygen and poor root growth. A tornado tore through Kouts, Indiana, on June 11, and additional storms are forecast across the region this week.
More This Week
🌽 Iowa crop conditions drop after a week of storms. — LINK
USDA rated 79% of Iowa corn good-to-excellent, down 5 points from 84% the prior week, and 77% of soybeans good-to-excellent, down 6 points from 83%, after heavy rains and damaging winds hit southern Iowa.
"This is sort of the herbicide and nutritional timings, and fungicides are coming up, and I don't think it's too early to talk about [plant health]. Because one thing that we've noticed in terms of what's predictable every year is that the weather is unpredictable," said Tyler Harp, Syngenta.
USDA rates 85% of Iowa's topsoil as adequate to surplus heading into the second half of June.
🫘 Iowa State sets flood-survival thresholds and warns against fungicide on hail-damaged stands. — LINK
Iowa State Extension reports soybeans in 2 to 3 days of saturated soil can lose up to 50% of yield potential, corn submerged less than 48 hours typically recovers, and survival odds drop sharply after four days underwater.
"Skip the fungicide; it won't prevent the bacterial diseases that enter through hail wounds, and common fungal diseases don't need wounds to infect plants anyway," ISU Extension specialists said.
Standing water lasting more than 7 to 10 days will stunt soybeans' ability to develop root nodules; growers are advised to call their crop insurance agent first and wait 5 to 7 days to evaluate hail regrowth.
💰 EPA RFS proposal through 2027 lifts soybean oil futures. — LINK
EPA's proposal to raise Renewable Fuel Standard volumes through 2027 pushed soybean oil futures higher as traders priced in additional biomass-based diesel demand, according to Reuters.
The American Soybean Association welcomed the proposal, saying stronger biofuel markets could create additional opportunities for soybean growers, while livestock organizations warned that tighter soybean oil supplies could raise feed costs.
The proposal is subject to a public comment period before becoming final; EPA documents say the agency expects the rule to support domestic energy production while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
📊 June Crop Progress: 94% of corn emerged, 68% rated good-to-excellent. — LINK
USDA's June 16 Crop Progress shows 94% of U.S. corn emerged with 68% rated good-to-excellent, while 95% of soybeans are planted and 88% have emerged.
The national soybean good-to-excellent figure provides a benchmark against Iowa's 77% rating, which fell 6 points after last week's storms.
The report sets a baseline for tracking state-level damage as storm-hit Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio fields are reassessed in coming weeks.
Basis Watch
Iowa Southwest soybean basis firmed 15 cents on Monday, the day's largest old-crop move in either commodity. Iowa Northeast and Nebraska South Central each strengthened 10 cents on the July contract, with South Dakota Southeast improving 8 cents and Nebraska Central firming 5 cents. North Dakota East Central and Missouri Central also picked up 5 cents on the low end of their bid ranges. Illinois West softened 4 cents against July futures.
Corn basis improvements ran smaller and more uniform. Missouri Central old-crop corn firmed 5 cents, and North Dakota Northeast strengthened 5 cents across its range. Iowa Northwest, Nebraska Central, and Nebraska Northeast each improved 3 cents on the upper end. Soybean basis gains outpaced corn at most reporting locations.
Source: USDA AMS
Soybeans standing in water for just 2 to 3 days at early growth stages can lose up to 50% of their yield potential, according to Iowa State University Extension specialists.
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