Released: July 8, 2002 -- 3:00 p.m. CST For Week Ending July 7, 2002 SD-CW2702 Volume 51 Issue 27

AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY:   The state continues to deal with hot, dry weather conditions as very little precipitation was received last week, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. Conditions have only worsened, with forest fires popping up in western South Dakota. Major farm activities included cutting hay, spraying crops and pasture, fixing fences, cultivating, and moving cattle to market. Statewide, there were 6.3 days reported suitable for fieldwork last week. This report is based on information from county extension educators, farm service agency county directors, and other reporters across the state.

WEATHER INFORMATION:  Above average temperatures continued for the third week in a row. Very little relief was seen across the state, as hot, sunny conditions prevailed, with little rainfall. Above average temperatures were recorded at all reporting stations last week ranging from 3 to 11 degrees above normal. Huron and McIntosh were the warmest spots in the state last week, with a high of 103 degrees. Several reporting stations recorded rainfall, but mostly trace amounts. The north central region of the state received a significant amount of rainfall with four of their reporting stations receiving over one inch.

SOIL CONDITION:   Soil moisture conditions continue to be mostly short to very short. Compared to the previous week, both topsoil and subsoil moisture levels indicated an improvement, due to rains in the north central region. Topsoil moisture is at 44 percent very short, 38 percent short, and 18 percent adequate. Subsoil moisture is at 41 percent very short, 36 percent short, 22 percent adequate, and 1 percent surplus.

FIELD CROPS REPORT:   Small grain development continues to progress rapidly with the warm, dry conditions, with most maturity stages ahead of the previous year and five-year averages. Winter wheat turning color is 91 percent. Harvest of winter wheat is underway, with 5 percent now complete. Spring wheat condition is rated 62 percent poor to very poor, an improvement from a week ago. Spring wheat turning color is 36 percent, a jump of 33 points from last week. Spring wheat harvested is just getting started with 2 percent complete. Soybeans are 22 percent bloomed, ahead of last year's average and the five-year average. Five percent of the soybean acres have begun setting pods. The average corn height is 36 inches. Reporters indicate that soybean and corn fields are holding their own at this point, but rain is needed desperately, or row crops will suffer significantly in the next week.

LIVESTOCK, PASTURE, AND RANGE REPORT:    Pasture conditions decreased again last week, with 69 percent rated poor to very poor. First cutting alfalfa is 87 percent harvested and other hay is 45 percent harvested. Reports indicate that high temperatures and lack of rain have hampered second cutting alfalfa growth. With browning pastures and diminished hay crops, producers are having extreme difficulty in coming up with adequate hay for the upcoming winter. Livestock conditions are deteriorating with reports of cattle deaths resulting from water quality issues.

           SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON
                  AS OF July 7, 2002 

               TOPSOIL         SUBSOIL
          This   Last  Last  This   Last  Last
RATING    Week   Week  Year  Week   Week  Year

                        Percent
Very 
 Short     44    48     4     41     45     2
Short      38    34    19     36     33    14
Adeq.      18    18    71     22     21    73
Surplus     0     0     6      1      1    11





          CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS
                AS OF JULY 7, 2002 

ITEM       V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL

                           Percent
Winter Wheat  47      29     17       7      0
Winter Rye    20      32     20      27      1
Spring Wheat  36      26     20      15      3
Barley        35      28     23      14      0
Oats          28      32     27      12      1
Corn           8      16     34      39      3
Soybeans       6      17     32      41      4
Alfalfa       37      38     18       7      0
Sorghum       21      28     33      18      0
Sunflower     17      21     54       8      0
Cattle         3      11     26      54      6
Sheep          4      10     23      55      8
Range & 
   Pasture    35      34     22       8      1





            CROP PROGRESS AS OF JULY 7, 2002   1/
                                                       
                                                                           
                    This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM                Week   Week   Year    Ave  
                             Percent
Barley      
 boot                99     92     95      96
 headed              91     63     75      79
 turning color       31      5      8      23
 ripe                 6     NA      0       1
 harvested            1      0      0       0 
Spring Wheat
 boot                98     97     95      95
 headed              92     76     82      85
 turning color       36      3     10      23
 ripe                15     NA      0       2
 harvested            2      0      0       0
Oats        
 boot                99     96     94      95
 headed              93     77     80      82 
 turning color       38     13     14      23
 ripe                11     NA      0       5
 harvested            4      0      0       1 
Corn          
 ave. height (in.)   36     23     30      32
 1st cult or sprayed 90     88     91      89
 2nd cult or sprayed 68     25     44      44
Sorghum     
 headed               1      0      2       2 
Soybeans    
 blooming            22      5      7      16
 setting pods         5      0      0       2
Sunflower   
 blooming             0      0      1       6 
Winter Wheat
 turning color       91     63     49      71
 ripe                47      5      2      17
 harvested            5      0      0       1 
Winter Rye  
 turning color       72     21     29      54
 ripe                 6      0      1      14
 harvested            1      0      0       0 
Alfalfa     
 lst cutting         87     79     92      89 
 2nd cutting         21      4     14      15 
Other Hay   
 cut                 45     33     49      46

1/ Percents represent all acreage in or beyond each stage. 



                 TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION, and GROWING DEGREE DAYS
                            WEEK ENDING SUNDAY JULY 7, 2002
             TEMPERATURE  |    -----  PRECIPITATION -----   | GDD BASE 50F
             -----------  |       SINCE  SINCE  SINCE  SINCE| ------------
            CURRENT WEEK  | CURR  JAN 1  APR 1  JAN 1  APR 1|SINCE APRIL 1
STATION    AVG DFN  HI  LO| WEEK  TOTAL  TOTAL    DFN    DFN| TOTAL   DFN
-------     --  --  --  --|-----  -----  -----  -----  -----| -----  ----
Bison       79  +9  98  59| 0.00   3.14   2.55  -7.43  -6.06|  1007  +158
Buffalo     79 +10 102  60| 0.00   3.53   3.16  -4.93  -4.12|   918  +122
Dupree      80  +9  99  58| 0.36   4.45   3.83  -5.89  -4.82|  1081  +129
McIntosh    79  +9 103  54| 0.25   3.46   2.67  -6.25  -5.57|  1002  +114
Newell      78  +9 100  60| 0.86   5.81   4.58  -3.45  -3.18|   953  +120
Timber Lake 79  +8  99  59| 0.33   4.04   3.22  -6.65  -5.51|  1070  +143
Aberdeen    79  +8  99  57| 0.40   5.43   4.59  -4.96  -3.62|  1080  +128
Eureka      79 +10  98  55| 1.59   5.51   4.86  -4.13  -3.20|  1088  +227
Faulkton    79  +8  96  56| 4.91  10.94   9.65  +0.27  +1.08|  1127  +209
Mobridge    82 +11 100  56| 1.21   4.12   3.94  -6.07  -4.35|  1138  +189
Roscoe      78  +8  97  58| 1.11   4.99   4.15  -6.10  -5.02|   975   +52
Britton     79  +8 101  58| 0.61   4.33   3.57  -6.19  -5.24|  1170  +191
Clear Lake  79  +9  93  66| 0.12   9.55   6.61  -3.10  -3.13|   969   +12
Sisseton    75  +3  93  54| 0.11   9.28   9.06  -2.02  +0.19|   988   -24
Webster     78  +8  99  65| 0.32   8.79   7.94  -2.29  -0.85|  1031   +90
Watertown   80  +9  94  64| 0.37   5.59   4.88  -6.44  -4.62|  1033   +90
Faith       80  +9 101  59| 0.00   3.85   3.66  -6.54  -4.92|  1050  +106
Milesville  82 +10 102  61| 0.56   5.60   4.00  -5.13  -4.81|  1179  +154
Long Valley 80  +8  96  59| 0.00   3.87   3.58  -6.99  -5.41|  1203  +197
Philip      82  +9 101  57| 0.12   3.21   2.82  -6.53  -5.28|  1246  +193
Rapid City  80 +10 100  58| 0.03   5.24   4.32  -4.88  -3.86|  1056  +239
Spearfish   77  +8  98  57| 0.00   5.87   3.73  -8.17  -7.52|   982  +209
Chamberlain 82  +8  98  65| 0.32   7.26   5.54  -3.01  -2.96|  1161   +11
Highmore    82 +10  97  63| 0.48   5.21   4.81  -5.87  -4.20|  1178  +164
Huron       83 +11 103  67| 0.00   5.60   4.19  -6.16  -4.82|  1241  +222
Onida       79  +7  99  53| 1.15   5.58   4.96  -5.08  -3.37|  1135   +83
Pierre      81  +8  98  59| 0.91   6.55   6.07  -4.68  -3.12|  1216  +148
Brookings   80 +10  93  65| 0.00   9.81   6.94  -2.39  -3.28|  1025  +166
Madison     81 +10  94  67| 0.00   5.05   3.78  -7.79  -5.95|  1089  +142
Mitchell    83  +9  99  69| 0.00   7.36   5.06  -5.25  -4.92|  1201   +62
Sioux Falls 82 +10  97  69| 0.00   8.57   6.74  -3.85  -2.89|  1246  +196
Custer      72  +8  88  53| 0.32   7.73   6.23  -3.12  -2.74|   609  +124
Hot Springs 78  +7  96  56| 0.34   8.12   5.71  -1.27  -2.19|  1021   +69
Oelrichs    78  +6  97  55| 0.11   6.73   4.26  -3.60  -4.15|  1033   +56
Porcupine   79  +7  97  54| 0.13   6.71   5.04  -2.92  -3.11|  1023   +74
Murdo       81  +8  97  62| 0.76   4.20   2.91  -6.85  -5.88|  1173  +176
Winner      83  +8  98  65| 0.52   7.40   5.80  -6.34  -5.11|  1396  +162
Armour      83 +10  98  68| 0.00   6.43   5.40  -6.67  -4.82|  1377  +184
Centerville 80  +8  97  68| 0.08   7.94   6.89  -5.63  -3.90|  1239  +134
Marion      81  +9  95  68| 0.00   8.47   6.99  -4.73  -3.22|  1153   +95
Pickstown   82  +9  98  68| 0.00   5.95   4.83  -6.59  -5.22|  1294  +160
Vermillion  82  +7  97  70| 1.05  12.38  11.26  -1.01  +0.50|  1462  +164
Yankton     81  +7 100  67| 0.05   6.98   4.96  -6.03  -5.54|  1288  +144

Source: National Weather Service, provided by AWIS, Inc.
Growing Degree Day values calculated using standard corn formula with no temperature caps.