Crop Progress and Pasture Conditions

South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – For the week ending August 3, 2014, below normal temperatures and scattered rain showers occurred across South Dakota, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Statewide, there were 6.5 days suitable for fieldwork. Topsoil moisture supplies rated 7 percent very short, 29 short, 62 adequate, and 2 surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 4 percent very short, 22 short, 72 adequate, and 2 surplus.

Field Crops Report: Winter wheat conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 3 poor, 21 fair, 62 good, and 14 excellent. Winter wheat mature was 93 percent, near 91 last year but behind the five-year average of 97. Harvested was 55 percent, ahead of 48 last year but well behind 76 average.

Spring wheat conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 1 poor, 21 fair, 64 good, and 14 excellent. Coloring was 86 percent, behind 95 last year and 97 average. Mature was 30 percent, near last year at 32, but well behind 64 average.

Oat conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 1 poor, 15 fair, 69 good, and 14 excellent. Coloring was 90 percent, behind 97 last year and 95 average. Mature was 71 percent, near last year at 69, but behind 74 average. Oats harvested was 42 percent, near last year at 38, but behind 50 average.

Barley conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 0 poor, 21 fair, 66 good, and 13 excellent. Headed was 96 percent, behind both last year and the average of 100. Coloring was 45 percent, well behind 92 last year and 93 average.

Corn conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 6 poor, 21 fair, 58 good, and 13 excellent. Corn silking was 88 percent, ahead of 84 last year and 72 average. Corn in the dough stage was 20 percent, ahead of both last year and average at 13.

Soybean conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 7 poor, 22 fair, 58 good, and 11 excellent. Soybeans blooming was 89 percent, near 87 last year and 86 average. Setting pods was 51 percent, ahead of 34 last year and 43 average.

Sorghum conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 2 poor, 13 fair, 80 good, and 5 excellent. Sorghum was 60 percent headed, near 62 last year but ahead of 49 average. Sorghum coloring was 5 percent, near 4 last year and 6 average.

Sunflowers conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 2 poor, 24 fair, 66 good, and 7 excellent. Sunflowers blooming was 23 percent, near 20 last year and 24 average.

Alfalfa hay conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 12 poor, 17 fair, 49 good, and 21 excellent. Alfalfa hay second cutting was 67 percent complete, behind 84 last year and 80 average. Third cutting was 3 percent complete, behind 7 last year and 14 average

Livestock, Pasture and Range Report: Pasture and range conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 10 poor, 20 fair, 53 good, and 16 excellent.

Stock water supplies were 2 percent very short, 16 percent short, 79 percent adequate, and 3 percent surplus.

North Dakota

FARGO, N.D. – For the week ending August 3, 2014, the south central part of the state was the only area that received significant moisture, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Average temperatures were below normal across most of the state last week. Reports indicated that warmer weather was needed to push development of late planted crops. Statewide, there were 6.6 days suitable for fieldwork. Topsoil moisture supplies rated 1 percent very short, 14 short, 76 adequate, and 9 surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 1 percent very short, 8 short, 81 adequate, and 10 surplus.

Field Crops Report: Winter wheat turning color advanced to 90 percent. Mature was 16 percent. Conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 9 poor, 29 fair, 51 good, and 9 excellent.

Durum wheat jointed was 96 percent, behind 100 last year and 99 for the five-year average. Headed rated 71 percent, behind 98 last year and 92 average. Turning color was 24 percent, behind 42 last year and 32 average. Conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 1 poor, 15 fair, 79 good, and 5 excellent.

Spring wheat headed rated 96 percent, near 97 last year and 98 average. Turning color was 50 percent, near 51 last year and 54 average. Mature was 5 percent. Conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 2 poor, 13 fair, 66 good, and 18 excellent.

Barley headed rated 96 percent, near last year and average at 99. Turning color was 62 percent, ahead of 60 last year, but behind 64 average. Mature was 9 percent. Conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 2 poor, 17 fair, 68 good, and 13 excellent.

Oats headed was 93 percent, behind 96 last year and 98 average. Turning color was 57 percent, near 55 last year and 59 average. Mature was 8 percent. Conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 1 poor, 9 fair, 80 good, and 9 excellent.

Canola turning color was 44 percent, ahead of 36 last year, but behind 48 average. Conditions were 0 percent very poor, 1 poor, 14 fair, 65 good, and 20 excellent.

Flaxseed blooming was 92 percent, near last year at 93 and equal to average. Turning color was 15 percent, equal to last year, but behind 24 average. Conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 2 poor, 15 fair, 73 good, and 10 excellent.

Dry edible peas conditions were 0 percent very poor, 4 poor, 19 fair, 68 good, and 9 excellent.

Dry beans blooming were 81 percent, ahead of last year at 77, but behind 88 average. Setting pods was 44 percent, ahead of last year at 38, but behind 55 average. Conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 4 poor, 23 fair, 56 good, and 15 excellent.

Potatoes blooming were 95 percent, near last year at 97, but behind 99 average. Rows filled was 51 percent, near 50 last year, but well behind 73 average. Conditions were 4 percent very poor, 8 poor, 29 fair, 50 good, and 9 excellent.

Corn silking was 65 percent, behind 77 last year and 73 average. Corn in the dough stage was 1 percent, behind 3 last year and 14 average. Conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 3 poor, 17 fair, 55 good, and 24 excellent.

Soybeans blooming were 90 percent, ahead of 84 last year, but near 89 average. Setting pods was 57 percent, ahead of last year at 45, but near 58 average. Conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 2 poor, 23 fair, 59 good, and 15 excellent.

Sunflowers blooming were 21 percent, ahead of last year at 14, but behind 32 average. Conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 1 poor, 20 fair, 69 good, and 10 excellent.

Sugarbeet conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 7 poor, 27 fair, 55 good, and 10 excellent.

First cutting of alfalfa was 98 percent complete, near last year and average at 99. Second cutting of alfalfa was 28 percent complete, behind last year at 39 and 43 average. Alfalfa conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 2 poor, 9 fair, 70 good, and 18 excellent.

Livestock, Pasture and Range Report: Pasture and range conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 2 poor, 12 fair, 64 good, and 22 excellent. Stock water supplies rated 0 percent very short, 3 short, 83 adequate, and 14 surplus.

Minnesota

Warm and dry weather conditions experienced across Minnesota helped advance crop development for the week ending August 3, 2014, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Farmers across Minnesota would like to see their crops receive rain to improve soil moisture conditions. There were 6.5 days suitable for fieldwork across the State.

Topsoil moisture supplies were rated 2 percent very short, 23 percent short, 71 percent adequate, and 4 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies were rated 1 percent very short, 11 percent short, 83 percent adequate, and 5 percent surplus.

Eighty-five percent of the corn crop was at or beyond the silking stage, up 24 points from the previous week, with 69 percent in good to excellent condition. Eighty-five percent of the soybean crop has reached the blooming stage with 55 percent of the soybean acres setting pods, up 29 points from the previous week. Soybean conditions rated 65 percent good to excellent. Ninety-five percent of the Spring wheat crop has headed, with 63 percent turning color or beyond. Reports were received of Spring wheat being harvested in the southern half of the State. Fifty-four percent of the Spring wheat crop was in good to excellent condition. Ninety-eight percent of the oat crop has headed, with 86 percent turning color or beyond. Minnesota farmers were able to harvest 30 percent of the State’s oat crop during the week to reach 41 percent harvested. Oat conditions maintained a 67 percent good to excellent rating. Dry edible beans progressed to 85 percent at or beyond the blooming stage, with 46 percent setting pods. Sunflower conditions held steady at 38 percent rated good to excellent.

The second and third cuttings of alfalfa hay were 76 and 13 percent complete respectively. All hay conditions increased to 70 percent good to excellent. Pasture conditions decreased to 71 percent good to excellent.

Iowa

Statewide there were 6.5 days suitable for fieldwork for the week ending August 3, 2014; the most this growing season according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. This was just above the 6.3 days suitable two weeks ago. Activities for the week included fungicide and insecticide application, cutting all types of hay, and harvesting oats.

Lack of precipitation caused a drop in soil moisture. Topsoil moisture levels rated 3 percent very short, 23 percent short, 70 percent adequate, and 4 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated 2 percent very short, 16 percent short, 78 percent adequate, and 4 percent surplus.

Ninety-three percent of the corn acreage was at or beyond the silking stage, just over 2 weeks ahead of the previous year and 5 days ahead of the five-year average. Corn in or past the dough stage reached 36 percent, double the normal amount. With a few farmers reporting corn starting to dent, 77 percent of the corn crop was reported in good to excellent condition. Ninety-one percent of the soybean acreage was blooming or beyond, 14 percentage points ahead of last year and barely ahead of average. Sixty-five percent of the soybean crop was setting pods, well ahead of last year’s 32 percent. Soybean condition was unchanged from the previous week with 74 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition. With almost the entire oat acreage having turned color, oat harvest for grain was 69 percent complete, falling to 4 percentage points behind last year and 12 points behind normal. Seventy-four percent of the remaining oat acreage was reported in good to excellent condition.

The second cutting of alfalfa hay was 85 percent complete, equal to the previous year but 3 percentage points behind the five-year average. The third cutting of alfalfa hay advanced to 9 percent complete, 3 days ahead of last year but almost 2 weeks behind the normal pace. Sixty-six percent of all hay was rated in good to excellent condition. Pasture condition deteriorated again to 61 percent good to excellent. Livestock conditions were reported as optimal.

Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. — For the week ending August 3, 2014, cooler temperatures limited moisture demands of non-irrigated crops. However, another week of only scattered rainfall stressed dryland crops and pastures, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Irrigation continued non-stop in many areas. Wheat harvest was near completion with only northern Panhandle fields remaining. The dry conditions also supported hay harvest. The number of days considered suitable for fieldwork were 6.7. Topsoil moisture supplies rated 10 percent very short, 39 short, 51 adequate, and 0 surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 12 percent very short, 31 short, 57 adequate, and 0 surplus.

Field Crops Report: Winter wheat harvested was 93 percent, near of 90 last year and 95 for the five-year average.

Corn conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 6 poor, 20 fair, 52 good, and 20 excellent. Corn silking was 94 percent, near 91 last year and equal to the average. Corn dough was 42 percent, well ahead of 13 last year and 32 average.

Soybean conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 6 poor, 22 fair, 54 good, and 16 excellent. Soybeans blooming was 90 percent, equal to last year and the average. Soybean setting pods was 68 percent, well ahead of 46 last year and 50 average.

Sorghum conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 5 poor, 32 fair, 41 good, and 20 excellent. Sorghum headed was 56 percent, well ahead of 33 last year and 39 average. Sorghum coloring was 16 percent, well ahead of 0 last year and average.

Oat conditions rated 3 percent very poor, 18 poor, 27 fair, 49 good, and 3 excellent. Oats mature was 97 percent. Oats harvested was 82 percent, near 84 last year but behind 87 average.

Dry bean conditions rated 3 percent very poor, 1 poor, 15 fair, 62 good, and 19 excellent. Dry beans blooming was 70 percent, behind 81 last year and 80 average. Dry beans setting pods was 25 percent, behind 36 last year and 35 average.

Alfalfa hay conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 7 poor, 31 fair, 51 good, and 9 excellent. Alfalfa hay second cutting was 94 percent complete, near 91 last year and equal to the average. Alfalfa hay third cutting was 47 percent complete, well ahead of 15 last year and 33 average.

Livestock, Pasture and Range Report: Pasture and range conditions rated 6 percent very poor, 12 poor, 31 fair, 45 good, and 6 excellent.

Stock water supplies rated 2 percent very short, 10 short, 87 adequate, and 1 surplus.