USDA: Dryness Worsens in Central Russia

USDA's Joint Ag Weather Facility has provided the following weekly weather/crop highlights:

• EUROPE: Widespread Rain Alleviates Spring Dryness
  - Rain continues to provide a late boost to reproductive to filling wheat and barley in Spain.
  - Widespread, locally heavy rain alleviates spring dryness and improves prospects for small grains and oilseeds in England, France, Italy, and western Germany.

• NORTHWESTERN AFRICA: Additional Showers Benefit Winter Crops
  - Showers benefit filling winter grains in northern Morocco.
  - Sunny skies in Algeria and Tunisia favor reproductive to filling winter wheat and barley.

• MIDDLE EAST: Warm Weather Accelerates Winter Grain Development
  - Warm, dry weather accelerates cotton planting and winter crop growth from Turkey into western Iran. However, showers are returning to Turkey.

• FSU: Western Rain Contrasts With Unseasonable Warmth And Dryness In The East
  - Showers persist across Belarus, Ukraine, and western Russia, slowing fieldwork but boosting soil moisture for winter wheat, barley, and rapeseed.
  - Unseasonably warm, dry weather continues in Kazakhstan and central Russia, favoring field preparations for spring wheat planting but reducing soil moisture.

• SOUTH ASIA: Seasonably Hot Weather Continues
  - Seasonably hot weather and adequate irrigation spur early cotton development in northern India.

• EAST ASIA: Heavy Showers Favor Wheat
  - Widespread showers boost moisture supplies for flowering winter wheat in China.

• SOUTHEAST ASIA: Pre-Monsoon Rains In Thailand
  - Pre-monsoon rainfall in eastern Thailand helps prepare soils for rice transplanting.

• AUSTRALIA: Cool, Wet Weather Returns To The East
  - In southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, cool, wet weather slows cotton and sorghum harvesting, but maintains abundant moistures supplies in advance of winter wheat planting.

• SOUTH AMERICA: A Killing Freeze Covers Argentina’s Southern Farming Areas
  - Freezing weather ends the growing season for late-planted soybeans and corn in Argentina's southernmost farming areas.
  - Rain increases moisture for secondary (safrinha) corn in key production areas of Brazil.

• MEXICO: Drier Weather Prevails
  - Dry weather promotes sugarcane and corn planting in eastern production areas, but additional, more widespread rain is needed to boost topsoil moisture for planting in other locations.