4-25 IAN Weather Delay

 The United States Department of Agriculture has a department called the national agricultural statistics service. Believe me, that’s a good name for this outfit, because they eat, sleep, and breathe agricultural statistics. That brings up statistics regarding weather and progress in the fields.

 I talked with Vince Matthews from the local NASS office and this is what he had to report about all the rain and cold weather we have had in Idaho this year: “ it is definitely slowing things down for the start of the season because of the wet and rainy conditions that are keeping people out of the field and getting started with their work. Boise, for one, we’ve had 3.34 inches of rain and that is 1.33 inches above normal. In Twin Falls, it has been 2.88 inches and that is 1.3 above normal and in Idaho Falls it’s 1.68 inches and that is .35 inches above normal. One of the categories is acres of oats planted. Currently 10% of the oat acreage we are expecting has been planted and the average is 36%. Onions, 70% have been planted and the average for this time of year is 80% so based on the part of the state they are grown, they are slightly behind normal but not as much as some other crops in other parts of the state. Winter wheat is ahead of normal and loves the moisture.