Iowa’s sweet corn season is underway! That planting, that is.
Dean Rebal’s roadside stand at his farmhouse adjacent to Highway 1 north of Iowa City won’t be opening until mid-July. But, on Thursday, Rebal began moving his planter across the twenty-acres where he’ll be growing this year’s sweet corn crop. He usually sells some nine-thousand dozen ears of sweet corn. Last year, Rebal’s selling season began July 17th and he sold the final ears for the season on September 16th.
“The fifteenth is the day I like to start planting,” said Rebal. I wait until the soil temperature gets to about fifty-degrees before I put it in the ground. Sweet corn planting this year is right on schedule,” he said.
On Saturday, Rebal intends to begin planting traditional corn for grain marketing during fall harvest. He says the market for that field corn is much less profitable because he must accept the grain market price. He said the current corn grain market price, currently less than four-dollars for a bushel of shelled corn, hardly meets production expenses.
At the roadside stand, he sets the price which is usually about $5.50 for a dozen ears of sweet corn.