Weather - General
Because of late planting and flood related crop losses, acreage uncertainty will linger for several months.
Several dry, 90-degree days were welcomed by farmers in central and northeast Missouri.
Wet weather in some areas and dry conditions in others are wrecking havoc on some farmer’s planting progress this spring.
Soggy soils and continued rain have kept corn planting nearly at a standstill as of May 1, and progress since then has been slight at best.
While planting dates are important, Purdue Extension corn specialist Bob Nielsen says plenty of other factors can influence crop yield.
While timely planting is important, the advantages of an earlier planting date can be lost if tillage and planting operations occur when the soil is too wet.
USDA is currently projecting near-record yields for the 2018 corn and soybean crops, but whether or not that actually comes to fruition will depend on nighttime temperatures here on out.
A punishing drought that stretches across much of the U.S. Northern Plains could cause farmers to lose 64 million bushels of wheat production this year, according to federal officials.
The drought plaguing eastern Montana and much of North and South Dakota came on quickly and is intensifying, leading ranchers to sell their cattle and farmers to harvest early whatever crops that have grown so far this summer.