07/11/07 Crops deteriorate in heat

Farm and Ranch July 11, 2007 Crop ratings for spring cereals in the Pacific Northwest have dropped, in some cases sharply, during this July heat wave. USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey has some spring wheat ratings. Rippey: "We are starting to see some dryness and heat related problems just developing in the northwestern areas. Washington state the percentage of the crop rated very poor to poor increasing from last week 21% to this week 27%. Montana seeing an increase from 6 to 15% very poor to poor from last week to this week." Only 33 percent of Washington's spring wheat is in good to excellent condition. In Oregon the spring wheat crop is rated only 41 percent good to excellent. Idaho has 80 percent of its spring wheat in the good to excellent category. Barley showed some of the biggest condition declines over the past week. Washington's barley crop went from 55 percent to 35 percent good to excellent. In Oregon barley dropped form 52 percent good to excellent to just 31 percent. Idaho's barley lost only a few points and is 68 percent good to excellent. Even winter wheat in the PNW saw ratings decline, just a few points in Idaho and Oregon but in Washington only 51 percent of the crop was rated good to excellent, down from 67 percent the previous week. The winter wheat harvest is underway though, with USDA reporting that four percent of Oregon's crop had been cut to start this week, three percent of Washington's. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag information Network.