in-crop-weather State Indiana Crop Weather Week Ending Date November 1, 2009 IN-CW110109 AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY Rain continued to play havoc with harvest progress resulting in limited field activity during the week, according to the Indiana Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Moisture content in harvested corn and soybeans remains higher than desired resulting in the need to dry a large portion of the crop. Some elevators have had to limit deliveries in an effort to catch up with drying. Corn harvest is running about 25 days behind the average pace and soybean harvest is running about 16 days behind average. Some intended winter wheat acreage will not be planted as late season conditions have not been favorable. FIELD CROPS REPORT There were 2.8 days suitable for field work during the week. Corn condition is rated 60 percent good to excellent. Twenty-eight percent of the corn crop has been harvested compared to 72 percent last year and 75 percent for the 5-year average. By area, 25 percent of the corn acreage has been harvested in the north, 26 percent in the central region and 36 percent in the south. Moisture content of harvested corn is averaging about 24 percent. Sixty-three percent of the soybean acreage has been harvested compared with 90 percent last year and 89 percent for the 5-year average. By area, 62 percent of the soybean acreage has been harvested in the north, 73 percent in the central region and 43 percent in the south. Moisture content of harvested soybeans is averaging about 14.5 percent. Fifty-five percent of the Winter Wheat acreage has been planted compared to 92 percent last year and 91 percent for the 5-year average. Twenty-one percent of the winter wheat has emerged compared with 73 percent last year and 70 percent for the 5-year average. LIVESTOCK, PASTURE AND RANGE REPORT Pasture condition is now rated 58 percent good to excellent compared with 24 percent last year at this time. Livestock remain in mostly good condition with very little weather related stress being reported. Crop Progress Table ------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last :5-Year Crop : Week : Week : Year : Avg ------------------------------------------------------- Percent Corn Mature 93 87 99 99 Corn Harvested 28 21 72 75 Soybeans Harvested 63 52 90 89 Winter Wheat Planted 55 43 92 91 Winter Wheat Emerged 21 11 73 70 Crop Condition Table ---------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Excel- Crop : Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : lent ---------------------------------------------------- Percent Corn 3 9 28 48 12 Winter Wheat 2 4 55 35 4 Pasture 2 8 32 48 10 Soil Moisture & Days Suitable for Fieldwork Table ---------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : : Week : Week : Year : ---------------------------------------- Percent Topsoil Very Short 0 0 8 Short 1 2 30 Adequate 45 53 61 Surplus 54 45 1 Subsoil Very Short 0 0 14 Short 4 6 31 Adequate 63 68 53 Surplus 33 26 2 Days Suitable 2.8 4.3 6.5 Contact Information --Greg Preston, Director --Andy Higgins, Agricultural Statistician E-Mail Address: nass-in@nass.usda.gov http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Indiana/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Other Agricultural Comments And News CORN CROP CONTINUES SNAIL’S PACE OF GRAIN DRYING & HARVEST -October 27, 2009 URL:http://www.kingcorn.org/news/articles.09/CropProgress-1027.html Monday's report from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS, 2009) reaffirms that the 2009 Indiana corn crop is continuing its near-record slow pace of development, maturity, and harvest. As of 25 October, 87% of the state's corn crop had reached maturity (Fig. 1, which can be viewed at: http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ ext/corn/news/articles.09/CropProgress-1027.html) and 21% of the crop was reported as having been harvested (Fig. 2, which can be viewed on the back page of this newsletter). These numbers represent progress that is 3 to 4 weeks behind the five-year pace for maturity and harvest. Indiana farmers have held off harvest of corn because they have concentrated on harvesting the similarly delayed soybean crop and because corn grain moisture has been literally too wet to harvest without incurring mechanical grain damage or wetter than desirable in terms of the expense of grain drying or price dockage at the elevators. Further delays in harvest of both crops have resulted from the frequent periods of rain throughout the state. Throughout much of the growing season, the 2009 crop was tracking similarly to the cool 1992 crop (Nielsen, 2009a; Nielsen, 2009b), but has since fallen behind even that very slow crop year (Fig's 1 & 2). Recent weeks with rainy weather and cool temperatures have simply put the brakes on the drying progress of the grain in standing corn fields around the state. Reported grain moistures at harvest have held steady at 25% grain moisture content for the past three weeks (Fig. 3, which can be viewed at:http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/articles.09 /CropProgress-1027.html); in line with those reported in 1992 but much higher than we typically experience in mid-to late October. Even at this late date, some folks seem to be waiting for a miraculous arrival of "Indian summer" to hasten the in-field drying of corn grain so that they can harvest at moistures of 20% or less. Meanwhile, stalk health and grain quality continue to deteriorate due to the processes of weathering and disease. Recognize that grain moisture content typically decreases very, very slowly from late October onward. By late October, one can usually not expect much more than 1/4 to 1/2 percentage point decrease per day with NORMAL temperatures. The AVERAGE daily temperature statewide for Indiana in October is 53.6F, then drops to average daily temperatures of only 42.3F during November (Indiana State Climate Office, 2009). These climatic data explain why the rate of grain moisture loss in the field "drops off like a rock" during October and basically "flat lines" through November (Fig. 4, which can be viewed at:http://www.agry.purdue.edu /ext/corn/news/articles.09/CropProgress-1027.html). Factor in this October's cooler than normal temperatures and it is no surprise why grain moisture has not changed very significantly in recent weeks. The bottom line is that we should not expect much more significant grain drying in the field from this point forward unless that miraculous "Indian summer" arrives in the very near future. RELATED REFERENCES Indiana State Climate Office. 2009. [online] http://climate.agry. purdue.edu/climate/facts.asp. [URL accessed Oct 2009]. Nielsen, R.L. (Bob). 2009a. A Tale of Three Cropping Seasons. Corny News Network, Purdue Univ. [online]. http://www.kingcorn.org/news/ articles.09/CropProgress-0803.html. [URL accessed Oct 2009]. Nielsen, R.L. (Bob). 2009b. Cool Days, Cold Nights, Slow Corn, What's Next? Corny News Network, Purdue Univ. [online]. http://www.kingcorn. org/news/articles.09/ CropProgress-0901.html. [URL accessed Oct 2009]. Nielsen, R.L. (Bob). 2009c. Field Drydown of Mature Corn Grain. Corny News Network, Purdue Univ. [online]. http://www.kingcorn.org/news/ timeless/GrainDrying.html. [URL accessed Oct 2009]. Nielsen, R.L. (Bob). 2009d. Stress During Grain Fill: A Harbinger of Stalk Health Problems. Corny News Network, Purdue Univ. [online]. http://www.kingcorn.org/news/timeless/StalkHealth.html. [URL accessed Oct 2009]. USDA-NASS. 2009. Crop Progress. USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. [online] http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/ CropProg/CropProg-10-26-2009.pdf. [URL accessed Oct 2009]. R.L. Nielsen, Agronomy Dept., Purdue Univ. West Lafayette, IN 47907 -2054. In order to view the charts and tables associated with this article, go to: http: //www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/articles .09/CropProgress-1027.html Email address: rnielsen at purdue.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The INDIANA CROP & WEATHER REPORT (USPS 675-770), (ISSN 0442-817X) is issued weekly April through November by the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite 110, West Lafayette IN 47906-4145. For information on subscribing, send request to above address. POSTMASTER: Send address change to the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office, 1435 Win Hentschel Blvd, Suite 110, West Lafayette IN 47906-4145. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weather Information Table Week ending Sunday November 1, 2009 ----------------------------------------------------- | Past Week Weather Summary Data |--------------------------------- Station | Air | | Avg | Temperature | Precip. |4 in. |---------------|------------|Soil |Hi |Lo |Avg|DFN| Total| Days|Temp ---------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) Chalmers_5W 68 28 50 +2 1.38 4 Francesville 66 27 51 +5 1.56 3 Valparaiso_AP_I 67 31 52 +5 2.53 3 Wanatah 67 27 51 +5 2.81 5 53 Winamac 66 28 51 +5 1.47 5 51 North Central(2) Plymouth 66 29 51 +4 1.56 4 South_Bend 67 32 52 +5 1.44 4 Young_America 68 28 51 +4 0.91 2 Northeast (3) Fort_Wayne 71 31 53 +6 0.67 4 Kendallville 65 35 52 +6 0.94 3 West Central(4) Greencastle 68 28 52 +2 1.67 4 Perrysville 70 27 53 +5 1.54 4 50 Spencer_Ag 72 31 53 +5 1.86 2 Terre_Haute_AFB 68 29 55 +5 1.02 3 W_Lafayette_6NW 69 27 53 +6 1.06 3 55 Central (5) Eagle_Creek_AP 68 32 54 +5 1.28 3 Greenfield 73 29 52 +4 1.55 3 Indianapolis_AP 68 32 55 +6 1.27 2 Indianapolis_SE 70 28 52 +3 1.26 2 Tipton_Ag 68 29 52 +5 1.13 2 58 East Central(6) Farmland 76 27 52 +5 1.28 2 52 New_Castle 74 28 50 +3 1.76 2 Southwest (7) Evansville 73 34 56 +4 2.24 3 Freelandville 69 34 54 +4 1.65 3 Shoals_8S 74 29 51 +2 1.79 3 Stendal 74 37 56 +6 2.11 3 Vincennes_5NE 71 34 55 +5 1.78 3 58 South Central(8) Leavenworth 76 33 54 +4 2.46 3 Oolitic 74 31 53 +4 1.43 3 50 Tell_City 76 37 55 +4 2.85 3 Southeast (9) Brookville 80 32 53 +5 1.27 2 Greensburg 79 31 54 +6 1.59 2 Seymour 77 32 52 +4 1.89 2 ----------------------------------------------------- Weather Information Table (Continued) Week ending Sunday, November 1, 2009 ------------------------------------------------- | Accumulation |-------------------------------- | April 1, 2009 thru Station | November 1, 2009 |-------------------------------- | Precipitation |GDD Base 50oF |-------------------------------- | | | | | |Total | DFN |Days|Total| DFN ------------------------------------------------- Northwest (1) | Chalmers_5W |27.83 +3.07 90 2662 -551 Francesville |28.17 +2.96 81 2607 -326 Valparaiso_AP_I |24.77 -2.56 84 2778 -163 Wanatah |29.68 +3.56 93 2480 -307 Winamac |24.02 -1.19 81 2686 -247 North Central(2)| Plymouth |26.79 +0.76 102 2611 -480 South_Bend |29.15 +3.71 82 2776 -121 Young_America |27.91 +3.34 63 2720 -309 Northeast (3) | Fort_Wayne |26.81 +4.34 85 2918 -126 Kendallville |23.21 -0.27 97 2941 +76 West Central(4) | Greencastle |37.94 +9.69 92 2717 -739 Perrysville |37.32 +11.06 88 3042 -160 Spencer_Ag |40.84 +12.63 87 3039 -183 Terre_Haute_AFB |27.48 +0.90 74 3318 -111 W_Lafayette_6NW |31.25 +6.35 84 2879 -151 Central (5) | Eagle_Creek_AP |34.22 +9.32 83 3337 -56 Greenfield |40.12 +12.80 88 2942 -317 Indianapolis_AP |37.70 +12.80 80 3468 +75 Indianapolis_SE |40.41 +14.84 85 2938 -448 Tipton_Ag |32.14 +6.44 88 2759 -170 East Central(6) | Farmland |24.76 +0.25 82 2814 -41 New_Castle |32.02 +5.77 82 2697 -231 Southwest (7) | Evansville |36.98 +11.62 80 3949 -7 Freelandville |44.26 +17.93 81 3406 -139 Shoals_8S |43.95 +15.44 80 3081 -357 Stendal |46.66 +18.51 80 3846 +134 Vincennes_5NE |43.70 +17.37 86 3551 +6 South Central(8)| Leavenworth |48.29 +19.59 110 3443 +30 Oolitic |38.90 +11.40 93 3143 -124 Tell_City |38.89 +10.16 76 3749 -88 Southeast (9) | Brookville |33.36 +6.97 81 3189 +96 Greensburg |40.49 +13.93 85 3345 +171 Seymour |43.56 +17.26 76 3065 -195 -------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2009: Agricultural Weather Information Service, Inc. All rights reserved. DFN = Departure From Normal GDD = Growing Degree Days. Precipitation (Rainfall or melted snow/ice) in inches. Precipitation Days = Days with precip of .01 inch or more. Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit. For more weather inrformation, visit www.awis.com or call 1-888-798-9955.