10/30/07 Winter wheat progress and condition

Farm and Ranch October 30, 2007 The USDA reported Monday afternoon that 88 percent of the 2008 U.S. winter wheat crop had been planted by the start of this week. That's just two points behind the five year average for now of 90 percent. Seeding is about wrapped up in Washington and Idaho at 99 and 98 percent complete respectively. In Oregon about 15 percent of the crop was left to plant. Emergence is ahead of average in the Pacific Northwest. USDA this week issued its first weekly condition report of the season for the new winter wheat crop and department meteorologist Brad Rippey has those numbers. Rippey: "We see 55% of the crop good to excellent, 12% very poor to poor. Just a little bit where we saw at this time last year, 60% good to excellent, eight percent very poor to poor. The only three states showing crop condition concern at this early juncture, Oklahoma and Texas. Oklahoma 18% very poor to poor. Texas 29%. A lot of that is due to wetness related issues and hopefully that will resolve in time as dry weather returns. In Oregon dryness is the problem with 36 percent of the winter wheat crop rated poor, 38 percent fair and 26 percent good. Washington's crop is right on the national average at 60 percent good to excellent. Idaho' winter wheat is rated 82 percent good to excellent. Seventy-three percent of the U.S. corn crop has now been harvested. That's ahead of the five year average for now of 69 percent. In Washington 93 percent of the state's potatoes had been harvested at the start of this week. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.