By late October into the first of November, Iowa harvest progress is typically well beyond the halfway point for corn and nearly complete for soybeans. Significant rainfall and moisture levels delayed harvest start times, putting the majority of Iowa farmers behind schedule. As the month of October progressed, Iowa farmers have made sizeable progress in both corn and soybean harvest. Following 6.4 days suitable for the week ending October 25th and 5.1 days suitable for the week ending November 1st, conditions have allowed for significant progress across the state for soybean harvest to catch up to the state’s average while corn harvest remains behind.  

Corn

For the week ending November 1st, corn harvest across southern states like Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina have reached over 90% complete. Moving into the Cornbelt, Missouri has recorded 86% complete, followed by Illinois at 86% complete, and Indiana at 75% complete. According to the USDA report, Iowa recorded 66% of corn harvested. Relative to the four-year average (excluding 2025 due to government shutdown), Iowa corn harvest progress is down nearly 17%. Typically, about 80% of Iowa corn is harvested at this point in October into November. Compared other major producing states across the Midwest, Iowa is one of the furthest behind their respective four-year state average. After remaining right on pace, Indiana has outpaced their four-year average, while Illinois continues to trend slightly ahead of their four-year average progress pace.

Figure 1. U.S. Corn Harvest (11/1/2026)

Figure 2. Iowa Corn Harvest Progress Comparison by Week by Year

A comparison of Iowa corn harvest progress is illustrated in Figure 2. As anticipated, corn harvest progress has started off much slower than previous years while weekly progress simultaneously remains slower than recent years. On average from Week 37 to Week 44, typical weekly progress increases by approximately 11 percentage points compared to current weekly progress increasing by just 8 percentage points. 

Soybeans 

After weekly harvest progress jumped from 78% to 90%, Iowa soybean harvest is finishing up quickly and is gaining to align with historical progress with relatively large weekly gains. Relative to other Midwest states, Minnesota leads at 97%, followed by North Dakota and South Dakota at 96% and 94%, respectively (Figure 3). However, Iowa remains head of progress in Indiana, Kansas, and Nebraska. 

For most of October, Iowa progress remained behind the state’s four-year average but is now headed to be on pace with recent years. As illustrated in Figure 4, this year’s harvest has started off significantly late relative to previous years, including the 5-year average. This year’s soybean harvest started off on a similar pace as 1986, yet weekly progress this year far outpaces that of historical periods that had similar delayed starts. Typically, weekly progress from Week 40 to Week 44 is around a 44 percentage point increase, whereas 2026 progress saw a jump from 5% to 90% from Week 40 to Week 44, an 85 percentage point increase. The last time there was at least an 80 percentage point increase during soybean harvest progress across the same period occurred in 2014 at 82 percentage points. 

Figure 3. U.S. Soybean Harvest (11/1/2026)

Figure 4. Iowa Soybean Harvest Progress Comparison by Week by Year