After some scattered rain across the U.S. Corn Belt over the weekend, about half of the Crop Watch producers are satisfied with recent rainfall totals. For the rest, rain showers were too light and anxiety over dryness remains.
That caused some offsetting of Crop Watch conditions in the latest week, though a small decline was observed overall.
The next several days could feature a similar weather pattern with scattered rain chances across much of the Corn Belt but below-average totals. Widespread, sustained heat is unlikely over the next week.
Crop Watch producers assign condition scores to their fields each week on a 1-to-5 scale, similar to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s system where 1 is very poor, 3 is average and 5 is excellent. Crop Watch conditions are intended as more of a visual assessment than a yield indicator.
The 11-field average corn condition fell to 3.86 from 3.93 a week earlier, while soybeans’ 3.73 average was slightly below the prior week’s 3.75. Crop Watch condition averages are not weighted due to the sample size, though USDA’s conditions are weighted by acreage estimates.
Corn and soybean conditions in Nebraska and southeastern Illinois fell a half-point each last week, though both crops in South Dakota and eastern Iowa featured quarter-point bumps. North Dakota corn went down a quarter-point and beans up a quarter, and all other scores were unchanged on the week.
Over the last week (Monday to Sunday), the South Dakota fields received 3.5 inches of rain and the eastern Iowa ones picked up about 2 inches. North Dakota observed between 2 and 3 inches of rain over the weekend, helpful for the beans but tougher on the corn, which has had problems with excessive moisture since planting.
Both the Kansas and Ohio locations are in good positions moisture-wise, tallying 1.5 and 1.3 inches last week, respectively. However, the recent heavier rains in Kansas have slowed wheat harvest, where yields are coming in between 40% and 50% of average levels after the bone-dry growing season.
Other rain totals for the week were lackluster and concerning in most cases, including Minnesota at 0.65 inch, Nebraska 0.4 inch, western Iowa 0.3 inch, western Illinois 0.3 inch, southeastern Illinois 0.25 inch and Indiana between 0.4 and 0.7 inch. Most of those rains came over the weekend, just barely preventing a couple of producers from reducing conditions.
Source: hellenicshippingnews.com
Photo Credit: istock-fotokostic
Categories: South Dakota, Crops, Corn, Soybeans, Sustainable Agriculture, Weather