Crop progress update

Farm and Ranch October 14, 2011 Recent rains in the Pacific Northwest may have interrupted some winter wheat seeding but it was welcomed to improve soil moisture conditions. USDA says winter wheat planting has progressed to 81 percent complete in Washington and 72 percent seeded in Idaho, both just a few points behind the five year average for now. In Oregon winter wheat planting at about 42 percent complete is running 19 percent behind the average pace. Emergence in Oregon is also behind the five year average while winter wheat emergence in Washington and Idaho is slightly ahead of average.

Nationally 59 percent of the U.S. winter wheat crop has been seeded compared to the five year average of 67 percent. Twenty-eight percent emerged. The five year average is 38 percent.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says some of the drought stricken plains, central Texas into central Oklahoma, picked up moisture over the past week.

Rippey: “ Some areas picked up as much as three to five, locally higher amounts of rainfall.”

But some areas got only a half an inch.

Rippey: “Really the two key areas that are in drought that missed out on most of the rain includes, most importantly, parts of west Texas, and secondly southeastern Colorado. So all of those areas are going to be dealing with continued drought and that certainly overlaps some of the western area for winter wheat.”

USDA says a third of the U.S. corn crop has been harvested, a point ahead of the average pace for now.

Washington’s potato harvest is reported to be 76 percent complete, Idaho’s 62 percent.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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