Agricultural Summary

Another cold, rainy week with only 0.8 days suitable for fieldwork continued to delay field work and spring plantings. Many reporters commented on below normal temperatures ranging in the upper 20’s and lower 30’s. Warmer and drier weather is needed for fieldwork. Spring tillage advanced only 2 percentage points over last week to 16 percent complete, a month behind last year and 28 days behind the 5-year average. Topsoil moisture rates 46 percent adequate and 54 percent surplus. Surplus moisture is up 12 points from last week.

Field Crops Report

The cold wet weather allowed corn planting to advance only 1 percentage point over last week to 2 percent complete, more than two weeks behind last year and normal. Heavy rains continued to delay corn planting, although some progress was made in the western part of the State. Wheat condition for the State is rated 5 percent very poor, 9 percent poor, 33 percent fair, 49 percent good, and 4 percent excellent, virtually unchanged from last week. New Madrid County in the Bootheel reported some wheat destroyed due to flooding from both the Mississippi River and St. Johns Ditch. The west-central district reported several requests from insurance adjusters working claims on the 2008 wheat crop. There has been no rice planted this year due to wet weather compared to 7 percent planted last year. Remembering last year’s April freeze, growers in the central district are concerned about the condition of the fruit crop due to below normal temperatures.

Pasture & Livestock

Pasture condition is rated 7 percent very poor, 22 percent poor, 39 percent fair, 29 percent good, and 3 percent excellent, stable from last week. Pasture conditions are improving in the northeast and west-central districts; howeve,r cool temperatures are slowing pasture growth. Warmer weather is urgently needed.

Weather Summary

Temperatures were below normal over most of the State, generally ranging from 1 to 10 degrees under the long term average. Rainfall for the week averaged 2.70 inches for the State. The largest amounts of precipitation were recorded in the southwest district, which averaged 4.04 inches.