Crop progress and condition update

Farm and Ranch May 11, 2010 Weekly crop weather bulletins from Northwest states report that farmers continue to face challenges in making herbicide applications due to windy weather this spring. The recent cooler weather also slowed crop development.

USDA’s weekly crop condition rating for U.S. winter wheat showed a slight decline from the previous week in the good to excellent category, down two points to 66 percent good to excellent. Still far better than last year’s crop at this time when only 46 percent was rated good to excellent. Most of the northwest winter wheat is in good to excellent condition. Some winter wheat was just starting to head out in the region.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says planting of the U.S. spring wheat crop did slow over the past week.

Rippey: “Two-thirds, 67% of the spring wheat crop planted. That is one point ahead of the five year average. Thirty-eight percent of that crop has emerged. Five year average 28%.”

USDA says spring wheat seeding is 93 percent complete in Washington and 81 percent done in Idaho. That’s slightly ahead of average for Washington, slightly behind the average pace in Idaho.

As for planting of the 2010 U.S. corn crop Rippey says.

Rippey: “The crop now 81%. That is up from 62% a week ago but fell just a bit off the record pace, which was 84% on this date in 2004.”

Over half of Idaho’s potato crop has now been planted, 86 percent of Washington’s.

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

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