Warmer weather aids plant growth

Farm and Ranch May 27, 2009 A main theme of this week’s crop progress reports in the Pacific Northwest is that recent warmer temperatures have helped crop development from an otherwise cool spring.

Meanwhile, spring cereal planting in the region is about complete except in Idaho where less than ten percent of spring wheat and barley has yet to be sown. USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says nationally spring wheat saw good planting progress last week.

Rippey: “Seventy-nine percent planted now. Up from 50% a week ago. Still well behind the 5-year average of 95% but some big planting numbers in the Red River Valley where it finally dried out enough to plant more than one-third of the acreage in just one week‘s time in both Minnesota and North Dakota. Planting in North Dakota reaching 69%. Still well behind the 5-year average of 94%.”

Just 45 percent of the U.S. spring wheat crop has emerged, well behind the average pace for now of 77 percent. Emergence in the PNW is much closer to normal.

USDA’s Rippey says development of the winter wheat crop is much closer to the five year average.

Rippey: “Nationally, more than two-thirds of the crop headed, 68% by May 24th. Five-year average is 71%. And the winter wheat condition slipping just a little bit. We continue to see some damage coming out from the drought and the freeze across the south central states.”

The winter wheat is 45 percent good to excellent compared to 47 percent a year ago.

U.S. corn planting is 82 percent complete.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Net