The different levels of precipitation in the US corn belt last week, in combination with almost normal temperatures, led to a slight adjustment in the harvest forecasts. It comes shortly after ratings suffered their biggest drop since 2020.
About half of Crop Watch's 11 locations did not experience adequate rain last week, with some areas still expecting light rain in the coming days. While cooler weather has helped alleviate the extreme stress on plants, the possibility of warm weather returning next week remains worrying.
Crop Watch's farmers rate the health of their fields on a scale of 1 to 5. The average corn health across the 11 fields fell slightly to 3.93 from 4.02 the previous week. While North Dakota saw a three-quarters drop due to excessive rain, Southeast Illinois saw a corresponding increase by the same amount after an inch of rain on Sunday.
For soybeans, the half-point decline in Indiana and Ohio was attributed to drought stress. Southeast Illinois and South Dakota saw slight improvements of a half and quarter point, respectively, while western Illinois and Minnesota saw declines of a quarter point. This increased the average soybean yield for 10 fields from 4 to 3.93.0 last week.
While recent rains have had a positive impact on the soybean crop in South Dakota, slower growth has been reported in Iowa, Indiana and other areas due to drought conditions.
Looking ahead, weather forecasts indicate that conditions will be drier than usual over the next two weeks in much of the Corn Belt, including parts of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. However, showers are still possible. The impact of this drought trend will depend largely on an absence of excessive heat, rain showers and more favorable weather in July.