by Todd Hill, Telegraph-Forum
As this slowly evolving harvest season has continued to drag on into November, it’s becoming increasingly clear how delayed it’s really become.ii
As of last weekend, only 36 percent of Ohio’s corn crop had been harvested, with just 50 percent of the soybeans in, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Both were behind the five-year averages of 44 percent and 73 percent, respectively.
Although last week’s harvest numbers were up from the previous week, the improvement was only incremental. And continued iffy weather conditions, from intermittent showers to simply overcast skies, have either kept combines out of the fields or delayed drying of the crops still in the fields.
The USDA said moisture content for harvested corn last week was 21 percent, only a percentage point lower than the week before; a level of 15 percent is required to avoid mechanical drying. Soybean moisture was down to 14 percent.
Many of this fall’s harvest delays can be attributed to late planting the past spring. But new weather delays in October are now impacting the planting of winter wheat as well, with 72 percent of the crop planted as of last weekend, according to the USDA, well behind the 89 percent planted at the same point last year and the five-year average of 80 percent.
The federal agency said 45 percent of Ohio’s winter wheat crop had emerged, nowhere near the 68 percent of last year but close to the five-year average of 44 percent.
The USDA said soil moisture was adequate in 69 percent of the state’s topsoil, with 20 percent in surplus.
Mansfield and Bucyrus continue to show nearly identical precipitation deficits since the growing season began April 1, of 1.53 inches and 1.54 inches, respectively, according to the USDA. Marion is essentially normal on the precipitation front, with a shortfall of just 0.38 inch, whereas Fredericktown is 3.11 inches wetter than the norm.
The fall delays, however, are allowing producers in the western Lake Erie watershed who signed Environmental Quality Incentives Program contracts earlier this year a little more time to plant cover crops for the winter.
The EQIP contracts, offered by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, are designed to hold fertilizer nutrients in place during the fallow months, ideally reducing the amount of phosphorous draining into western Lake Erie, which was beset by harmful algal blooms again during the summer.
Although the deadline for planting EQIP winter wheat and triticale was on Halloween, farmers still have until November 10 now to plant cereal rye.
Read more HERE.
As this slowly evolving harvest season has continued to drag on into November, it’s becoming increasingly clear how delayed it’s really become.ii
As of last weekend, only 36 percent of Ohio’s corn crop had been harvested, with just 50 percent of the soybeans in, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Both were behind the five-year averages of 44 percent and 73 percent, respectively.
Although last week’s harvest numbers were up from the previous week, the improvement was only incremental. And continued iffy weather conditions, from intermittent showers to simply overcast skies, have either kept combines out of the fields or delayed drying of the crops still in the fields.
The USDA said moisture content for harvested corn last week was 21 percent, only a percentage point lower than the week before; a level of 15 percent is required to avoid mechanical drying. Soybean moisture was down to 14 percent.
Many of this fall’s harvest delays can be attributed to late planting the past spring. But new weather delays in October are now impacting the planting of winter wheat as well, with 72 percent of the crop planted as of last weekend, according to the USDA, well behind the 89 percent planted at the same point last year and the five-year average of 80 percent.
The federal agency said 45 percent of Ohio’s winter wheat crop had emerged, nowhere near the 68 percent of last year but close to the five-year average of 44 percent.
The USDA said soil moisture was adequate in 69 percent of the state’s topsoil, with 20 percent in surplus.
Mansfield and Bucyrus continue to show nearly identical precipitation deficits since the growing season began April 1, of 1.53 inches and 1.54 inches, respectively, according to the USDA. Marion is essentially normal on the precipitation front, with a shortfall of just 0.38 inch, whereas Fredericktown is 3.11 inches wetter than the norm.
The fall delays, however, are allowing producers in the western Lake Erie watershed who signed Environmental Quality Incentives Program contracts earlier this year a little more time to plant cover crops for the winter.
The EQIP contracts, offered by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, are designed to hold fertilizer nutrients in place during the fallow months, ideally reducing the amount of phosphorous draining into western Lake Erie, which was beset by harmful algal blooms again during the summer.
Although the deadline for planting EQIP winter wheat and triticale was on Halloween, farmers still have until November 10 now to plant cereal rye.
Read more HERE.
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine GFMT
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
For additional daily news from milling around the world: global-milling.com
No comments:
Post a Comment