Stressful growing conditions this year are an indicator that stalk rots could be very common. It is a good idea to go out to the field now and identify problem fields so that they can be harvested early enough to avoid lodging. Driving through Missouri on August 10, I saw numerous fields with 50-75 percent of the plants dead, apparently from a combination of drought stress, poor roots, and stalk rot. I have not seen any fields that look as bad in Iowa, but there are some that look very stressed, and they will die prematurely.