Agricultural Summary

Farmers made steady progress in cutting hay and planting soybeans during the week, while wheat producers prepared for harvest. There were 4.9 days suitable for fieldwork. Scattered thunderstorms brought improvement to topsoil moisture supplies, rated 7 percent very short, 28 percent short, 62 percent adequate, and 3 percent surplus. Most districts showed improvement, with the northeast district drastically better. Rainfall has been adequate to maintain growth and development of spring row crops. However, a lack of moisture reserve is causing many farmers concern heading into the hot summer weather, as a dry spell would cause rapid deterioration. Subsoil moisture supply is rated 10 percent very short, 42 percent short, 47 percent adequate, and 1 percent surplus. The Bootheel is the only district experiencing sufficient soil moisture, with 95 percent adequate to surplus.

Field Crops Report

Corn condition is rated 5 percent poor, 30 percent fair, 56 percent good, and 9 percent excellent, a slight improvement from last week as the crop benefited from the warm weather and recent rainfall. Soybean planting is 84 percent complete, 5 days behind last year but nearly 2 weeks ahead of the 5-year average of 69 percent. Emergence is at 65 percent, 3 days behind last year but 8 days ahead of normal. Condition of the crop is 5 percent poor, 36 percent fair, 55 percent good, and 4 percent excellent. Sorghum planting is 89 percent complete, 5 days behind last year but 12 days of normal. In the Bootheel, warm weather the past two weeks has improved rice and cotton conditions. Rice condition improved to 1 percent poor, 25 percent fair, 63 percent good, and 11 percent excellent. Cotton planting is virtually complete, while squaring is at 2 percent, slightly behind last year and the 5-year average. Condition of the crop is rated 21 percent poor, 42 percent fair, 33 percent good, and 4 percent excellent. Wheat turning color has reached 87 percent, about 1 week ahead of both last year and the 5-year average. Harvest is starting slightly ahead of normal, with most of the early harvest activity baling the poor quality fields for straw or haylage. Reports from around the state are indicating a few problems with disease or poor quality, but the overall condition is stable from last week at 7 percent very poor, 12 percent poor, 28 percent fair, 45 percent good, and 8 percent excellent. The first cutting of alfalfa is 87 percent complete, 8 days ahead of last year and 12 days ahead of normal. Other hay is 48 percent cut, 1 day ahead of last year and 1 week ahead of normal.

Pasture & Livestock

Pasture condition is rated 6 percent very poor, 16 percent poor, 43 percent fair, 33 percent good, and 2 percent excellent, a slight improvement over last week. Stock water supply is rated 6 percent very short, 25 percent short, 67 percent adequate, and 2 percent surplus. Hay supply is rated 9 percent very short, 25 percent short, 64 percent adequate, and 2 percent surplus. The worst shortages are in the west-central and southwest districts. Some producers there are cutting wheat for haylage as well as requesting permission to cut CRP ground for hay.

Weather Summary

Temperatures were above normal throughout the State. The northwest district was the warmest at 8 to 9 degrees above average, while southern counties were generally 3 to 5 degrees above normal. “Spotty” was the reporters’ word of choice to describe rainfall for the week, which averaged 1.15 inches for the State. Amounts ranged from none in scattered locations to 5.00 inches in Montgomery County and 6.43 in Monroe County. However, rainfall was highly variable even within counties, giving locally heavy totals but leaving other areas mostly dry. On average, central and northern districts had 1 inch or more, with the exception of the northwest district at 0.68 inches. The driest area was the Bootheel, which had 0.46 inches.