Missouri Farmers Begin Turning Combines Toward Soy, Cotton
Corn harvest passed the one-quarter mark in Missouri, while farmers also began hauling this year’s cotton and soy crop. The USDA Crop Progress report indicates that as of Sunday, 28 percent of the state’s corn crop is in the bin, ten points ahead of a year ago and 12 points better than the five-year average. 86 percent of the crop is mature. The crop still in the ground is rated 33 percent good to excellent against 39 percent poor or very poor. The first four percent of the soybean crop was harvested in the past week, just ahead of last year’s pace and the five-year average of three percent. 64 percent of beans have dropped their leaves, 22 points better than a year ago and 30 points ahead of the five-year average. 45 percent of the crop is good to excellent, up a point on the week, while 21 percent is rated poor or very poor. Winter wheat planting remains two percent complete.
Rice harvest in the Bootheel crossed the halfway point, now 53 percent complete. That’s 21 points ahead of last year and 16 points better than the five-year average. The last crop condition rating of the season has three out of four rice plants rated good to excellent. Cotton harvest began with two percent collected, in line with last year’s pace but half the five-year average. 29 percent of cotton bolls have not yet opened. 64 percent of the crop is rated good to excellent, up seven points from last week, while just two percent is considered poor.
Even with precipitation across the state in line with the historical average of just over 1.1 inches, pastures showed even more weakness with half of fields now rated poor or very poor, six points worse than last week. Just 17 percent are considered good or excellent, unchanged from a week ago. Just 29 percent of farmers are believed to have enough hay on hand, while 55 percent are believed to have adequate stock water. Four percent of alfalfa fields still need a third cutting. 42 percent of topsoil and 35 percent of subsoil have adequate moisture. An average of 6.3 days were suitable for fieldwork. Temperatures around Missouri averaged 69.4°F, 5.5 degrees above normal.
