Ag Weather Forum

Producers almost completed harvesting soybeans in most Midwest states last week because they had enough fieldwork days available. Producers will now turn their attention to the corn harvest, which is running well behind normal in most states. Both Minnesota and Iowa are reporting a corn harvest running about two weeks behind normal. There were also reports of high winds in the western Midwest causing some corn stalk breakage and ear loss.

The harvest weather outlook for the Midwest during the next seven days is mixed. The weather pattern is expected to be unsettled with only light precipitation events in the western Midwest while more light-to-moderate events are expected in the east. This will allow some progress to be made, but not at a rapid pace. The good news is that we do not see any significant snow events for the Midwest that would have a major impact on the harvest.

Planting progress for winter wheat in Oklahoma and Kansas has improved significantly during the past week and should near completion during the next seven days under favorable weather conditions. Soil moisture is adequate in most of the Southern Plains for emergence and pre winter development of the crop.

We are seeing an improvement in the weather pattern in central Brazil. After a two-week period of hot/dry weather during October that significantly slowed planting and may force some soybean replanting, we are now seeing signs of the development of a more regular rainfall pattern. As we have said before we have never seen a drought in central Brazil during the heart of their growing season. However, we could see a situation this year where producers are not able to plant as much second crop corn due to the late development of the soybean crop.

The weather pattern remains quite favorable for corn planting in central Argentina with a mix of dry and wet days. Soybean planting will likely start soon.

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

(ES)

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