August 3 Crop Progress & Condition Reports - NE - IA - US

NEBRASKA CROP PROGRESS AND CONDITION

For the week ending August 2, 2015, most of Nebraska received one inch of rain or less, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The lack of rainfall contributed to dryland stress in some areas, although irrigated crops continued to fare well. Temperatures averaged near normal. There were 6.2 days suitable for fieldwork. Topsoil moisture supplies rated 6 percent very short, 26 short, 64 adequate, and 4 surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 6 percent very short, 22 short, 69 adequate, and 3 surplus.

Field Crops Report:
Corn condition rated 1 percent very poor, 5 poor, 19 fair, 57 good, and 18 excellent. Corn silking was at 94 percent, near 93 for both last year and the five-year average. Dough was at 23 percent,behind  39 last year and 33 average.

Sorghum condition rated 0 percent very poor, 2 poor, 27 fair, 61 good, and 10 excellent. Sorghum headed was at 56 percent, near 53 last year, but ahead of 42 average. Sorghum coloring was at 3 percent, behind 14 last year, but equal to the average.

Soybean condition rated 1 percent very poor, 5 poor, 21 fair, 57 good, and 16 excellent. Soybeans blooming was at 89 percent, equal to both last year and the average. Setting pods was at 54 percent, behind 66 last year, but near 51 average.

Winter wheat harvested was 93 percent, near 91 last year, and equal to the average.

Oats condition rated 2 percent very poor, 6 poor, 24 fair, 61 good, and 7 excellent.  Oats mature was at93 percent, near 95 last year. Harvested was at 76 percent, near 79 last year, but behind 87 average.

Alfalfa condition rated 1 percent very poor, 4 poor, 28 fair, 55 good, and 12 excellent. Alfalfa second cutting was at 88 percent, behind 93 for both last year and the average. Third cutting was at 32 percent, behind 45 last year, but near 35 average.

Livestock, Pasture and Range Report:
Pasture and range conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 6 poor, 23 fair, 58 good, and 11 excellent. Stock water supplies rated 2 percent very short, 9 short, 87 adequate, and 2 surplus.



Access the National publication for Crop Progress and Condition tables at:
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/nass/CropProg/2010s/2015/CropProg-08-03-2015.pdf.

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 AND CONDITION REPORT

Although heavy rains were reported in some areas of the State; drier than normal conditions prevailed in other areas. Overall, Iowa farmers had 4.6 days suitable for fieldwork for the week ending August 2, 2015, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Activities for the week included cutting hay and fungicide and insecticide applications. Humidity and heat aided crop development, but precipitation made harvesting hay and oats difficult in some areas. There were reports of weed and insect problems in soybeans and fungus in corn fields.

Topsoil moisture levels rated 0 percent very short, 6 percent short, 80 percent adequate and 14 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated 0 percent very short, 6 percent short, 81 percent adequate and 13 percent surplus. South central Iowa saw the largest increase in topsoil moisture levels, with 60 percent surplus, up from 51 percent the prior week.

Ninety-three percent of the corn crop reached the silking stage or beyond, with 30 percent reaching the dough stage or beyond. Corn condition rated83 percent good to excellent.

Soybeans blooming or beyond reached 87 percent, 2 days behind 2014. Fifty-seven percent of soybeans were setting pods. Soybean condition rated 79 percent good to excellent this week, up 3 percentage points from the previous week.

Seventy-eight percent of the oat crop for grain or seed has been harvested, 5 days ahead of last year, but slightly behind the 5-year average.

The second cutting of alfalfa hay reached 79 percent, 3 days behind last year, and one week behind the average, due to continued wet conditions. The third cutting of alfalfa hay is 13 percent complete, 8 days behind average. Hay condition was rated at 69 percent good to excellent, while pasture condition rated 76 percent good to excellent. Livestock experienced normal summer heat stress.



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

The past reporting week began with very warm and humid weather prevailing through Tuesday (28th). Actual temperatures peaked at 95 degrees at Lamoni while the heat index reached 109 degrees at Burlington on Tuesday. A wide band of thunderstorms brought rain from northwest, through central, into south central Iowa on Monday (27th). Another area of thunderstorms moved through all but far northwest Iowa between early Tuesday (28th) morning and early Wednesday (29th) morning. Torrential rains fell with this second round of storms on Tuesday night across parts of south central Iowa. Cooler and mostly dry weather prevailed on Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures falling as low as 52 degrees at Sheldon on Thursday (30th)morning. Warmer and more humid weather returned for the weekend with scattered thunderstorms over the southern one-half of the state. Sunday (2nd) was the warmest day of the weekend with Donnellson reaching 94 degrees. Temperatures for the week as a whole averaged 1.5 degrees above normal. Weekly rain totals varied from only 0.09 inches at Oakland and 0.10 inches at Bellevue to 7.46 inches near Spring Hill in Warren County. The statewide average precipitation was 1.63 inches while normal for the week is 0.94 inches. The statewide average precipitation has been above normal for seven of the past eight weeks. However, precipitation amounts have been highly variable over the state during this eight-week period with very heavy rains over much of the southern one-third of Iowa while portions of the northern one-third have been drier than usual.



USDA Weekly Crop Progress

Corn and soybean conditions were steady to slightly improved in the week ended Aug. 2, according to USDA's latest Crop Progress and Condition report.

Seventy percent of the nation's corn was rated good to excellent, equal to last week's ratings.  Ninety percent of the corn is silking, compared to 78% last week and an 89% five-year average. Twenty-nine percent of the crop is in the dough stage, compared to 14% last week and a 31% average.

Sixty-three percent of beans were rated good to excellent, compared to 62% last week.  Soybeans are 81% blooming and 54% setting pods, compared to 71% and 34% last week and 83% and 49% on average.

Winter wheat is 93% harvested compared to 85% last week and an 85% average.  Spring wheat is 8% harvested, compared to 2% last week and an 11% average. 

Cotton is 92% squaring and 57% setting bolls compared to 85% and 44% last week and 94% and 64% on average. Cotton condition ratings worsened in the last week. Rice is 63% headed, compared to 51% last week and a 59% five-year average. Conditions were steady to slightly better.

Sorghum is 57% headed and 29% coloring, compared to 45% and 23% last week and 53% and 30% on average. Oats are 43% harvested, compared to 27% last week and a 48% 5-year average. Barley is 17% harvested, compared to 5% last week and an 8% average. Sorghum and barley conditions worsened slightly; oats conditions held steady.