11/25/08 Big chunk of northwest wheat still in poor condition

Farm and Ranch November 25, 2008 Emergence of the winter wheat crop is still running well behind normal in Washington and Oregon this fall. There is 85 percent emergence in Washington, 69 percent in Oregon. In Idaho winter wheat emergence is slightly ahead of pace at 97 percent and Brad Rippey, USDA meteorologist, says that's true nationally as well. Rippey: "Emergence has reached 92%. That is one point ahead of the five year average. In terms of condition as we wind down the fall establishment season, still looking at a pretty good crop. Sixty-five percent of the crop rated good to excellent. Only eight percent very poor to poor. That is one point off from last week when we were looking at 66% and 7% respectively, but far better than this time last year when the crop was only rated 44% good to excellent, 19% very poor to poor. Even with a good crop there are a few pockets of concern. Most particularly in the northwest where Washington state one-third of the crop is rated very poor to poor. Nearly a quarter in Oregon, 24%. We also have some dry pockets in the Texas growing areas where 16% of the crop is rated very poor to poor." Rippey says the U.S. corn harvest is 89 percent complete. The five year average for now is 97 percent. The harvest is lagging the most in the northern tier corn growing states. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.