Drought
Corn conditions posted their steepest weekly drop of the year as triple-digit heat hit the Midwest and Plains. AgResource’s Dan Basse says as a result, slight revisions to national yield estimates are already underway.
USDA ratings show that the nation’s crops lag behind Iowa’s current strong performance, while drowned-out areas and weather stress in Illinois could deliver harvest disappointments.
With summer patterns running up to four weeks behind schedule, meteorologist Don Day urges growers to plan in short windows for the second half of the growing season.
NOAA officially declared El Niño on Thursday and says the climate pattern has a 63% chance of reaching “very strong” status by fall, potentially shaping U.S. weather through harvest and winter.
After a historic 10-month stretch of dryness, improving moisture conditions are helping crops and pastures, but long-term drought impacts continue to linger across parts of the High Plains and West.
Ben Rand of Blue Line Futures says an unprecedented Western drought is shrinking crops, drying up wells, tightening hay supplies and accelerating cattle herd liquidation across the region
Scottsbluff farmers face drought, low snowpack and delayed irrigation. Many are returning seed or having to pre-irrigate to get crops planted.
A historic lack of winter moisture and drying water sources are forcing Wyoming and Nebraska producers to make gut-wrenching choices. At Torrington Livestock Markets, sales volume has surged to nine times its normal seasonal average.