Crop Conditions
Export Sales Fall Within Expectations, But Lower on the Week
As the Great Plains see plunging temperatures this week, one meteorologist thinks crops in the core of the Corn Belt escaped major damage thanks to constant cloud cover. However, livestock producers may not be so lucky.
According to USDA’s latest Crop Progress report, 60% of the U.S. corn crop is rated good to excellent, unchanged from last week. Illinois corn conditions continue to improve each week.
The National Weather Service shows isolated areas of Iowa saw more than 20 inches of rain during the month of August. But with much of the summer and month being dry for northeast Iowa, the change was a sudden switch.
100 mph winds were clocked in Oelwein, Iowa, which is located northeast of Waterloo. Chip Flory says driving through the damage, he describes fields and infrastructure damaged in northeast Iowa on Tuesday.
Scouts saw drought damage instead of derecho devastation in eastern and north-central portions of Iowa on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour this year. Minnesota was much the same, with fields showing clear signs of stress.
Pro Farmer scouts pegged the Indiana average yield estimate at 193.48 bu. per acre on Tuesday, just slightly below USDA’s prediction of 194 bu. per acre.
The latest Crop Progress report put the corn crop this week at 62% good to excellent, a two-point drop in a week. Soybean conditions dropped 3% across the country, now sitting at 57% rated good to excellent.
As scouts set out on the 2021 Pro Farmer Crop Tour Monday they got a soggy start, a good sign for soybeans in August. While Ohio did not disappoint, South Dakota showed scars from the drought with a mature crop.
Drought conditions continue to plague portions of the Western Corn Belt, but in the East, it’s a much different story with Ohio farmers potentially sitting on an above average crop.