RADCLIFFE, Iowa — The rains which fell Wednesday into Thursday are welcomed by Iowa’s farmers.

“This is a wonderful rain we’ve been very dry the spring however, with little rain, field conditions were ideal to get out and work them,” said Dennis Friest, who farms south of Radcliffe. “But now we need the rain to get the crops going and we had an inch and three fourths here and you couldn’t ask for any better rain than what we got.”

Friest has been thankful he’s been able to farm with very dry conditions over the past few years, thanks to drought resistant corn hybrids.

“Literally amazing what they’ve done with the Aqua-Max product,” said Friest. He noted how that type of hybrid would have helped through a 1977 drought. The rain was welcome, but is not a drought buster.

“We were dry last year, not as dry as western Iowa or northwest Iowa,” said Friest.

He is thankful for the rain, but some planting may have to wait due to cold temperatures in the forecast.

“A lot of farmers are delaying some of their planting right now because of the cold weather this coming weekend,” said Friest. “We’re concerned about the cold soils affecting the germination of our plants.”