Colorado’s crop leads the nation
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
America’s 2019 winter wheat crop is beginning to sprout.
About 14 percent of the national winter wheat crop has emerged, the USDA’s latest Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin says. That figure is up from the 10 percent recorded at this time last year.
On a state level, Colorado’s winter wheat crop is the furthest ahead.
About 39 percent of the state’s winter wheat acres have emerged, which is up from 21 percent last week.
“Anything that was planted around the second week of September is up, but anything planted after that is sitting in dry dirt,” Nick Midcap, a producer from Wiggins, Colo., and president of the Colorado Association of Wheat Growers, told Farms.com. “It’s pretty dry, so some farmers have reached a point where they have to plant and hope the snow and rain can help.”
No winter wheat in California, Illinois, North Carolina or Ohio has emerged yet, the USDA says.
Combines continue to roll through U.S. corn fields.
Farmers have harvested about 26 percent of the 2018 corn crop, the USDA says. That figure is up from 16 percent last week.
Producers in North Carolina have finished 83 percent of their corn harvest, which represents the most progress in the country.
Farmers ramped up harvest before Hurricane Florence moved in, and that appears to be the right decision, said Alex Jordan, a producer from Clarkton, N.C., and president of the Corn Growers Association of North Carolina.
“If farmers were able to get their crop off before the storm came in, then they might be in good shape,” he told Farms.com. “But from what I’m hearing, we’ll be lucky if we can harvest 25 percent of what’s left in the fields. The flooding and winds really did some damage on farms here.”
Corn in Minnesota is only 8 percent harvested, which is the lowest among the documented states.
And the USDA ranked 69 percent of the national corn crop as in good to excellent condition.
U.S. farmers continue to make progress on the 2018 soybean harvest.
Growers have harvested about 23 percent of country’s soybeans. That number is up from 14 percent last week.
Farmers in Louisiana have combined 69 percent of their soybeans, which is the highest in the nation.
Farmers in North Carolina have harvested around 5 percent of their soybean fields, which is the lowest in the U.S.
The USDA ranked 68 percent of the national soybean crop as in good to excellent condition.