Because most of Iowa is under water, much of the first planting of that state’s seed corn is rotting in the mud and corn contracts jumped to $7.20 a bushel on Monday, June 16—up $1.20 from a week prior. But by Friday, news arrived from Iowa that the flooding hadn’t been as bad as first believed. Western Iowa was bouncing back, and corn contracts dropped to $6.65, a 55-cent drop in 4 days. On Monday Lutter’s soybean field was under water, by Wednesday it had dried out enough to plant. By Friday, the soybean seeds had already germinated and sprouted, but on the surface “drift corn”—here, corn seed from the previous season—was also sprouting. “I’ve got to get in and spray. Fast.” Every day is a race against the clock, the growing season, first frost, and the global commodity market.
On Tuesday, June 17, Lutter’s intermediate wheatgrass experiment was growing like gangbusters. On Thursday, tan spot fungus hit the grass. In all his efforts to catch up, it was the one field he hadn’t sprayed.
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