Agricultural Summary

Severe weather swept across the state, limiting producers to 1.1 days suitable for fieldwork. High winds, and even tornadoes, were overshadowed by the large amount of rainfall that overwhelmed the southern half of the state. Topsoil moisture, now plentiful, rated 40 percent adequate and 60 percent surplus. The southeast district measuring 14 percent adequate and 82 percent surplus, coped with minimal storm damage from small hail and heavy winds. Flooding potential remained high for the coming week. Fieldwork ground to a halt with spring tillage only increasing one percentage point from last week to 48 percent complete, 8 days behind last year and 3 days behind normal.

Field Crops Report

Corn planting progressed to 28 percent, a 2 point jump from last week, 9 days behind last year, and 5 days behind normal. Replanting will be necessary for some areas. Corn emergence was 6 percent, 4 days behind last year and 8 days behind normal. Rice planting was 13 percent complete with 3 percent emerged. The planting was 12 days behind last year and 11 days behind normal although emergence was only running 9 and 6 days behind last year and the average. Sorghum planting was 1 percent complete. The winter wheat crop continued above average condition ranking 1 percent very poor, 7 percent poor, 34 percent fair, 51 percent good, and 7 percent excellent. Winter wheat heading jumped 9 points from last week to 10 percent, with the southeast 22 percent headed. State-wide, heading was 4 days ahead of 2010 and in line with the historic average. Wet weather conditions prevented cotton planting. Some respondents have already started a comparison to the late 2008 planting season.

Pasture & Livestock

Pasture conditions improved to 1 percent very poor, 6 percent poor, 40 percent fair, 46 percent good, and 7 percent excellent, but grazing conditions were not ideal due to excessive moisture. Grass has been growing, but warmer temperatures are needed to promote growth.

Weather Summary

Precipitation averaged 2.59 inches state-wide with the south-central district measuring 6.09 inches and the west-central at 0.67 of an inch. Carter County reported 9.79 inches of rainfall, and Wayne reported 9.51 inches. Temperatures were 4 to 8 degrees below average across northern and central Missouri. The south-central and southeast districts measured 2 to 5 degrees above average, but rainfall thwarted fieldwork progress.