August 4 Crop Progress and Condition Reports - NE - IA - US

NEBRASKA CROP PROGRESS - WHEAT HARVEST WRAPPING UP

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:
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. 

Winter wheat  harvested was  93  percent,  near  of  90  last  year  and  95  for  the  five-year 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. 



Access the National publication for Crop Progress and Condition tables at:  http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/nass/CropProg//2010s/2014/CropProg-08-04-2014.txt.

Access  the  High  Plains  Region  Climate  Center  for  Temperature  and  Precipitation  Maps  at: http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/maps/current/index.php?action=update_region&state=NE&region=HPRCC.

Access the U.S. Drought Monitor at: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?NE.



IOWA CROP PROGRESS - CROPS CONTINUE TO LOOK GREAT

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. 



IOWA PRELIMINARY WEATHER SUMMARY
Provided by Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist
Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship

Unseasonably  cool  and mostly dry weather prevailed  across  Iowa  this past week. Temperatures were below normal  throughout  the week with the  coolest  readings on Monday  (28th)  and Tuesday  (29th) when highs were mostly  in  the  seventies  statewide. Temperature  extremes  for  the week varied  from morning  lows of 46 degrees  at Sheldon on Tuesday and  Wednesday  with  the  highest  temperatures  on  Saturday  (2nd) afternoon  of  87 degrees  at  Cresco,  Des  Moines,  Osceola  and  Rock Rapids. Temperatures  for  the  week  as  a  whole  averaged  5.3 degrees below  normal. The  largest  rain  event  of  the week  came  late  Saturday (2nd)  night  into  Sunday  (3rd) morning  across  the  southwest  quarter  of Iowa. Rain amounts of more than an inch were common from Missouri Valley  south-southeastward  to  Hamburg  and  Shenandoah. Otherwise there were isolated showers and thunderstorms each day except Sunday (27th) and Wednesday (30th) but areal coverage of these rains were very limited. Randolph  in  Fremont  County  reported  the  most  rain  for  the week with 1.98  inches while  large portions of  the northeast  two-thirds of  the  state  received  no  rain  of  consequence. The  statewide  average precipitation was 0.12 inches while normal for the week is 0.94 inches.



US Weekly Crop Progress - Corn Condition Slips Slightly

The condition of the nation's corn crop slipped slightly to 73% good to excellent this past week from 75% the previous week, according to the latest USDA Crop Progress report. However, the development of the crop remains ahead of the average pace.

As of Aug. 3, 90% of the nation's corn had silked, compared to 78% last week and a five-year average of 88%. Thirty-six percent had reached the dough stage, compared to 17% last year and a 29% five-year average.

Eighty-five percent of U.S. soybeans had bloomed and 57% were setting pods, compared to 77% and 36% last year and 83% and 48% five-year averages.  And 71% of the crop was rated in good to excellent condition. 

Ninety percent of the nation's winter wheat is harvested, compared to 86% last year and a five-year average of 85%.