Percentage of U.S winter wheat emergence doubles in a week

Emergence levels still short of last year’s figures

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

Winter wheat emergence across the U.S. jumped by 108 percent in one week, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) latest Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin.

25 percent of the total U.S. winter wheat crop has emerged, the USDA reports. That number is up from 12 percent last week, but falls short of the 32 percent emergence recorded last year at this time.

On a state level, 57 percent of the winter wheat in Nebraska has emerged. That number is up from 42 percent last week and is the highest of the 18 states documented.

Winter wheat crops in California and North Carolina have yet to emerge, according to the USDA.

Soybeans

American farmers are also busy with the 2017 soybean harvest.

Producers have harvested 36 percent of the total soybean crop, according to the USDA. That number is up from 22 percent last week but is below the 41 percent recorded last year around this time.

Soybean producers in Louisiana have completed 91 percent of their harvest. That number is up from 85 percent last week and is the highest of the 18 documented states.

On the other hand, soybean growers in North Carolina have completed 16 percent of their harvest. That figure is up from 10 percent last week but is the lowest harvest completion percentage in the country, according to the USDA.

The USDA also ranked 49 percent of the American soybean crop as good. That number is down from 54 percent at this time last year.

Corn

Producers also continue to harvest corn across the U.S.

American farmers have harvested 22 percent of the total corn crop, the USDA reports. That figure is up from 17 percent last week but short of the 33 percent harvest completion measured at this time last year.

On a state level, farmers in North Carolina have completed 89 percent of their corn harvest. That number is the highest corn harvest completion across the country and is an increase of 4 percent from last week.

Conversely, farmers in Minnesota and North Dakota have only completed 4 percent of their corn harvest. Those figures are the lowest across the country but represent an increase of 2 percent from last week.

The USDA also ranked 49 percent of the U.S. corn crop as good. That number is down from 53 percent at this time in 2016.

Suitable fieldwork days

The states with the highest number of suitable fieldwork days for the week ending Oct. 8 were:

California, Arizona, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware – 7 days

The states with the fewest number of suitable fieldwork days were:

• Nebraska – 1.9 days
• Minnesota – 2.3 days
• Kansas – 2.5 days

Weekly precipitation levels

The next Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin will be released Tues., Oct. 17.