U.S. winter wheat crop beginning to emerge

Winter wheat crops in Nebraska and Washington lead the country in terms of emergence

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

The 2017 U.S. winter wheat crop is beginning to emerge in some states, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) latest Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin.

12 percent of the total winter wheat crop has emerged, up from no emergence last week. That number is 6 percent below the emergence recorded at this time last year.

On a state level, winter wheat crops in Nebraska and Washington are 42 percent emerged, the most of the 18 states recorded.

The winter wheat crop in Arkansas is only 1 percent emerged and a number of other states including Illinois, Indiana and Ohio have no winter wheat emerged.

Corn

Farmers across the U.S. are continuing with the 2017 corn harvest.

17 percent of the U.S. corn crop has been harvested as of Oct. 1, according to the USDA’s report. That number is up from 11 percent last week, but below the 23 percent harvest completion recorded at this time last year.

Farmers in North Carolina have harvested 85 percent of their corn crop. That number is up from 77 percent last week and is the highest percentage of all the states recorded.

While farmers in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin have completed 2 percent of their corn harvest. Those numbers represent the lowest harvest completion levels among the 18 states documented.

The USDA also ranked 49 percent of the corn crop as good.

Soybeans

The 2017 soybean harvest also continues to progress across the U.S.

22 percent of the total American soybean crop has been harvested, according to the USDA.

Farmers in Louisiana have completed 85 percent of their soybean harvest. That number is up from 75 percent last week, ahead of the 72 percent harvest completion measured at this time last year and is the highest of the 18 states documented.

Soybean producers in North Carolina and South Dakota have harvested 10 percent of their crops. Those numbers are the lowest of the recorded states.

The USDA also ranked 48 percent of the U.S. soybean crop as good.

Suitable fieldwork days

The states with the most suitable fieldwork days for the week ending Oct. 1, were:

California, Nevada, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island – 7 days

The states with the fewest suitable fieldwork days were:

New Mexico – 2.2 days

Colorado – 3.2 days

Kansas – 3.4 days

Minnesota and Oklahoma – 3.6 days

Weekly precipitation levels

The next USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin is scheduled for release on Tues., Oct. 10.