A central Iowa farmer says he had a relatively good crop year in 2025.
Dean Frazer raises corn and soybeans, and operates a 36,000 head farrow-to-finish hog operation in Conrad.
“We thought we were going to have record yields on July 4th. And then when the southern rust showed up we ended up with still very respectable above average yields for both corn and beans.”
He tells Brownfield the spread of southern rust came as a surprise.
“I’ve been farming by myself since 1987 and this is only the second time I remember southern rust. We were kind of blind sided from it because we just didn’t expect it to that magnitude.”
But he says, “Luckily, we do fungicide every year on corn. That helped tremendously. We did two passes on a few fields. We feel like we’re prepared for it next year.”
Frazer says fungicide investments will be critical in 2026.
