(Radio Iowa) – Increasingly dry conditions in Iowa are impacting Iowa’s corn and soybeans. The Iowa Crop and Weather report for the final week of July shows half of Iowa topsoil is short or very short of moisture. That’s a 12 percent increase from the previous week. Drought conditions intensified in northwest Iowa last week and the condition of Iowa’s statewide corn crop fell slightly to 76 percent good or excellent, according to the U.S.D.A. That’s a four point drop from the previous week. The report indicates the conditions of soybean fields statewide declined slightly as well.

A lack of rain is putting more stress on livestock and the U-S-D-A indicates less than half of Iowa pasture land for grazing is in good to excellent shape.