First Crop Progress Report of the Year

The National Ag Statistic Services have released the year’s first Crop Progress report earlier this week. No surprise that precipitation levels across the Pacific Northwest region are below average so far and the same is true for Colorado snow pack.
The NASS Northwest Regional Director Chris Mertz shares an overview of the Pacific Northwest conditions
Mertz: “Due to dry fields and warm days, spring plantings are ahead of normal in the Northwest region in all three states: Oregon, Washington and Idaho are ahead of five year averages. We also have some dry areas especially range and pasture conditions in Oregon is in worse conditions than Washington and Idaho.”
Spring planting in Colorado is a little behind as NASS Mountain Regional Director Bill Meyer explains
Meyer: “People are just getting starting with planting their spring crops right now. I know there is a concern with moisture supplies. We have a below average snow pack this year, so there are some concern about irrigation supplies. The top-soil and sub-soil moisture ratings they are actually a little better than they were last year at this time. We’ve had beautiful weather, unfortunately there was a cold snap in February and I think it did some damage to the winter wheat crop up in the northeast region of the state. There was some winterkill. We don’t know the extent of the damage yet.”