As we approach harvest, the impact of the drought on grain quality is becoming clearer. Corn in many areas to the west and east of Iowa reached maturity earlier. Most of Iowa's corn will be past black layer by Labor Day weekend. Soybeans have stopped and started with late rains, but expect pod count and seed size to be pretty well set by Labor Day as well. Regardless of crop and quality issue, please talk to your crop insurance company before harvest. Some quality issues are covered; others are not. Quality issues are resolved in crop insurance by deducting an additional percentage of actual production before calculating the settlement.