Ag Weather Forum

Wet Conditions in Crop Reports

Mike Palmerino
By  Mike Palmerino , DTN Senior Ag Meteorologist
The impact of late-spring snow and cold is still resonating through the Kansas wheat crop. (DTN photo by Pam Smith)

The percent of winter wheat in good to excellent condition in the Southern Plains certainly took a hit last week due to low temperatures and some snow in western areas. Good to excellent ratings dropped by 2 points in Colorado, 4 points in Texas, 6 points in Kansas and 14 points in Nebraska. Only in Oklahoma did conditions improve by 2 points.

The question now is how well will the crop recover from this event. Wheat is quite resilient, and we would expect to see significant improvement in the next few weeks as the crop benefits from adequate to surplus soil moisture during the heading and filling stages of development. Meanwhile, the current Southern Plains wet pattern will become more of a problem if it continues during maturation, as it would lead to more disease issues that would affect crop quality.

P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

More favorable weather in the northwest Midwest and Northern Plains allowed planting progress to increase; almost 25% of the corn acreage was planted in Iowa last week. However, planting progress for corn remains behind normal in these areas. At the same time, even though conditions were unfavorable for planting in the eastern and southern Midwest because of rain, corn planting remains ahead of normal due to good progress made in late April. Soybean planting is behind normal across most of the Midwest.

The weather pattern is expected to remain less than ideal for planting in the Midwest and to a lesser degree in the Northern Plains. However, producers will take full advantage of any breaks in the weather and, as we all know, rapid progress can be made in a short period of time.

Michael Palmerino can be reached at Michael.palmerino@dtn.com

(ES)

P[] D[728x170] M[320x75] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

Comments

To comment, please Log In or Join our Community .