The 2016 growing season will go in the books as another full of unique challenges and weather variability. In many areas of the state, especially western Iowa, the planting season was delayed with challenges caused by saturated conditions and cool soil temperatures.

Conversely, some parts of the state saw optimal, drier planting conditions. It seemed after we were able to get the corn plants out of the ground and actively growing, crop conditions and early outlooks improved dramatically. The weather during pollination was...