04/25/07 Slight drop in winter wheat ratings

Farm and Ranch April 25, 2007 USDA's latest crop condition report on the U.S. winter wheat crop puts it at 54 percent good to excellent. That's just a one percentage drop from the previous week's rating. However, USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says there are problems in some soft red winter and hard red winter wheat states where the Easter Weekend freeze hit the hardest. Rippey: "Both Arkansas and Missouri 64% of the winter wheat crop currently rated very poor to poor. In other freeze affected states include Kansas of course the big producer, 41 percent very poor to poor. And that number if you look at the four week plot for Kansas it has gone up from 4% very poor to poor. Sixteen percent on April 8th . Twenty-seven percent on the 15th and now rated 41% very poor to poor." And while the good to excellent rating only dropped one point, nationally the very poor to poor rating increased from 17 to 21 percent of the crop. In the Pacific Northwest Idaho's winter wheat is rated 88 percent good to excellent down one point from last week. Oregon's crop was also down one point at 92 percent good to excellent. Washington winter wheat remained unchanged at 73 percent good to excellent. Nationally 14 percent of the U.S. spring wheat crop has been planted which is nearly 50 percent behind the average pace for now. Farmers in the PNW have much more of their spring wheat planted. Oregon is over 91 percent complete and Idaho and Washington have nearly ¾'s of their crops in the ground. As for potatoes, Washington has planted 55 percent of the crop, Idaho 20 percent, which is ahead of average. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.