USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility has provided the following weekly weather/crop highlights:
EUROPE: Season’s First Rain Arrives In Spain
- The season’s first rain on the Iberian Peninsula provides moisture for winter wheat planting. Likewise, showers in northern Italy boost soil moisture for wheat and improve irrigation reserves.
- Dry, milder weather across much of northern and eastern Europe promotes summer crop harvesting.NORTHWESTERN AFRICA: Rain Encourages Western Wheat Planting
- Moderate to heavy showers arrive in Morocco and western Algeria, conditioning fields and encouraging producers to begin winter grain planting. Rain continues in eastern wheat districts.MIDDLE EAST: Rain And Mountain Snow In Northern Iran
- Moderate to heavy rain and mountain snow provide the season’s first moisture for winter wheat in northern Iran, while light to moderate showers condition soils in Syria and Iraq.FSU: Cold In The West, Wet In The South
- Cold, dry weather in Belarus, Ukraine, and western Russia promotes late summer crop harvesting but hampers winter grain establishment.
- Showers slow cotton harvesting in Kirgizia and southern Kazakhstan.SOUTH ASIA: Warm, Dry Weather
- Seasonably warm, dry weather in northern and central India aids summer crop harvesting as well as winter wheat and rapeseed planting.EAST ASIA: Beneficial Moisture For Winter Crops
- Periodic showers favor winter wheat and rapeseed emergence in China.SOUTHEAST ASIA: Drier Weather Eases Thai Flooding
- Drier weather allows flood waters to recede from rice fields in central Thailand, although flooding persists in the south.
- More rain in Indonesia prepares fields for main-season rice transplanting.AUSTRALIA: Harvesting Progresses, Albeit Slowly In Many Areas
- Wet weather throughout most of the wheat belt slows winter crop maturation and harvesting, although portions of southeastern Australia are mostly dry, favoring wheat, barley, and canola harvesting.
- Rain in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland benefits vegetative summer crops.SOUTH AMERICA: Rain Returns To Southern Brazil And Northern Argentina
- Wet weather returns to northern Argentina, while dry pockets linger in southern winter grain areas.
- Rain maintains mostly favorable conditions for soybeans and other crops throughout Brazil.MEXICO: Seasonable Dryness Dominates
- The rainy season is virtually over in Mexico, and northwestern reservoirs are entering the winter growing season at unfavorably low levels.SOUTH AFRICA: Rain Falls In The Eastern Corn Belt
- Showers are timely for germination of corn and other summer crops.
