USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility has provided the following weekly weather/crop highlights:
EUROPE: Widespread Showers Continue To Boost Crop Prospects
- Widespread showers continue to boost prospects for small grains and oilseeds. However, generally dry weather in Spain promotes winter grain maturation and harvesting.NORTHWESTERN AFRICA: Sunny Skies Favor Wheat Maturation
- Mostly sunny skies accelerate winter grain maturation and harvesting.MIDDLE EAST: Additional Rain Benefits Turkish Grains
- Locally heavy showers and thunderstorms favor winter wheat and barley in Turkey.
- Warm, dry weather promotes winter crop maturation and harvesting across the eastern Mediterranean.FSU: Soil Moisture Declining In The South
- Unseasonably warm, dry weather reduces soil moisture for vegetative to heading winter grains and oilseeds in southern portions of Ukraine and Russia’s Southern District.
- Showers favor vegetative small grains from Belarus into central and northern Russia.
- Field preparation and early spring wheat planting is proceeding with minimal delay in Kazakhstan and eastern Russia. The sunny weather also promotes cotton planting in the south.SOUTH ASIA: Hot And Dry For Cotton
- Hot, dry weather stresses vegetative cotton in northern India.EAST ASIA: Warmer Weather Favors Planting In Northeastern China
- Warmer weather spurs corn, soybean, and rice planting in northeastern China.
- Widespread monsoon showers maintain abundant moisture supplies for corn and rice in southern China.SOUTHEAST ASIA: Monsoon Rains Spur Rice Transplanting
- Monsoon showers continue to encourage transplanting of rice in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.AUSTRALIA: Favorable In The West And Parts Of The East
- Dry weather favors uninterrupted summer crop harvesting and winter wheat planting in east-central Australia, but discourages widespread winter crop sowing in southeastern Australia.
- In Western Australia, rain maintains good early-season crop prospects for winter grains and oilseeds.SOUTH AMERICA: Warm Weather Promotes Late Crop Development
- Unseasonable warmth fosters rapid maturation of Argentine soybeans and corn, though locally heavy showers slow harvesting in and around Buenos Aires.
- In Brazil, warm weather promotes rapid development of secondary (safrinha) corn, with showers boosting moisture in key southern production areas late in the week.MEXICO: Seasonal Showers Return To The Gulf Coast
- Showers benefit rain-fed corn and sugarcane, although additional moisture is needed in Mexico’s western production areas.CANADA: Spring Crop Planting Advances
- Drier conditions aid spring grain and oilseed planting on the southern Prairies, but freezing weather limits early growth.
