Moisture Recovery Underway as Harvest Nears Completion

Even with another week of above-average rainfall, Missouri farmers remain on track to complete harvest earlier than normal.  This week’s USDA Crop Progress Report indicates that 90 percent of corn is harvested, in line with last year’s pace and four points ahead of average.  Soybean harvest is at 86 percent complete, 17 points better than a year ago and 16 points ahead of average.  The Bootheel’s cotton harvest is at 92 percent, 19 points better than last year and 17 points better than the five-year average.

Five out of six Missouri wheat fields have been planted, and 57 percent of the crop has emerged.  Emergence is now in line with last year’s totals, and planting progress is eight points ahead.  The average pace is 69 percent planted and 49 percent emerged.  Conditions improved, with 58 percent good to excellent against 11 percent poor or very poor.

Pastures posted a second week of improvement, with 16 percent of fields now in good shape.  59 percent of fields remain in poor or very poor condition, down seven points from a week ago.  45 percent of farmers are believed to have enough hay on hand, while half of Missouri farmers reportedly have a shortage of stock water.  Nearly 1.7 inches of rain fell last week on average, just over a half-inch above normal.  That helped bring the percentage of Missouri topsoil holding adequate moisture to 55 percent, with 40 percent of subsoil also having adequate moisture.  An average of 5.1 days were suitable for fieldwork, with the average temperature 8.5 degrees above normal at 58.4°F.