07/02/25 Afternoon CommStock Report – Is US Agriculture the Next Nokia?

Up until now we have been seeing general soaking rains in most major growing regions. Most of Iowa and surrounding states will go into Independence Day well-watered. The first half of July still appears non-threatening and will keep the bears on the defensive.  While July precipitation forecasts switch from general soaking to more scattered showers, they still predict covering large enough regions to avoid any serious crop stress. Much of the Western Corn Belt will see 0.5″ to 2″ this week. We have been expecting a drier shift to the Western Corn Belt that has yet to materialize. We still see plenty of water for Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri next week along with favorable showers in Indiana, Ohio and Northern Illinois. Iowa leans drier but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I still need things to dry out enough to do one final herbicide pass on my soybeans.   A big part of how this plays out will be the heat. We see above average temperatures for the upper Corn Belt, but nothing that would be considered extreme for the month of July. Much of Iowa, Northern Illinois, and Nebraska on North is expected to see temperatures 4…