Ethan Lambert was amazed last week at the numbers that began to roll in showing his corn coming in at about 250 bushels per acre the first few days into the 2022 harvest season.

Lambert, who farms near Dows, said farmers in much of north central Iowa got into the fields a little later than the rest of the state due to a wet spring and delayed planting season that pushed back the growing season as well, but early indications signal the lag has been well worth the wait.

“Corn yields in our area have been very nice,” Lambert said Oct. 5. “We’ve seen yields consistently around 220 bushels per acre or more depending on the quality of the ground.

“Yields for beans have been around the upper 50s to mid-upper 60s, which is quite a bit better than last year.”

Harvest thus far has been a pleasant surprise following a 2021 drought year that limited high-end yields in north central Iowa, said Lambert.

“Last year our area was in a pretty...