Released: September 30, 2002 -- 3:00 pm CST For Week ending September 29, 2002 SD-CW3902 Volume 51 Issue 39

AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY:    As crops mature, harvest progress gains momentum, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. Major farm activities included preparing equipment for harvest, winter wheat planting, cutting silage, harvesting row crops, working cattle, and cleaning bins. Statewide, there were 5.9 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:   Slightly below normal temperatures covered the state last week. Average temperatures were in the 40's and 50's, with a low of 26 in McIntosh and Sisseton and a high of 82 in Long Valley. All stations reported less than one inch of rain. Mitchell had the most rainfall, with 0.72 inch reported.

SOIL CONDITION:    Topsoil and subsoil moisture conditions are similar to last week. Topsoil moisture is rated 18 percent very short, 42 percent short, and 40 percent adequate. Subsoil moisture is rated 27 percent very short, 40 percent short, and 33 percent adequate.

FIELD CROPS REPORT:    Crops continue to advance to maturity as harvest season proceeds. The corn crop is now rated at 78 percent mature and 9 percent harvested, similar to last year's and the five-year average progress. Soybeans are at 96 percent dropping leaves and 75 percent rated mature, with 23 percent harvested, also ahead of average. Sorghum is rated 54 percent mature, and 14 percent harvested for grain, slightly behind average. Sunflower have 90 percent bracts yellowing, 49 percent rated mature, and only 3 percent harvested. Silage harvest continues, with corn silage 91 percent and sorghum silage 77 percent harvested. Winter wheat seeded is at 70 percent and 29 percent is emerged, while winter rye is 73 percent seeded and 38 percent emerged, both slightly behind normal.

LIVESTOCK, PASTURE, AND RANGE REPORT:    Alfalfa harvest continues with third cutting now 79 percent harvested, up 9 points from the previous week. Livestock remain in mostly fair to good condition again this week. Range and pastures remain in mostly very poor to poor condition. The livestock feed and water supply comparison table was added to show current drought conditions.

     FEED AND WATER SUPPLIES COMPARISON
         AS OF SEPTEMBER 29, 2002 

              FEED        STOCK WATER 
            SUPPLIES        SUPPLIES 
        This  Last 5-Yr.   This  Last  5-Yr.
RATING   Year  Year  Ave.    Year  Year   Ave.

                       Percent
Very 
 Short     23     3    NA     28      4     6
Short      36    16    NA     32     19    14
Adeq.      40    77    NA     39     75    73
Surplus     1     4    NA      1      2     7


    SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON
         AS OF SEPTEMBER 29, 2002 

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

                       Percent
Very 
 Short     18    18     8     27     33    11
Short      42    35    24     40     32    35
Adeq.      40    47    67     33     35    53
Surplus     0     0     1      0      0     1   



    CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS
         AS OF SEPTEMBER 29, 2002 

ITEM       V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL

                          Percent
Corn          18      16     27      33      6
Soybeans       7      17     30      42      4
Alfalfa       32      19     29      18      2
Sorghum       26      31     27      16      0
Sunflower     26      22     37      15      0
Cattle         4       6     29      50     11
Sheep          2       6     25      56     11
Range & 
   Pasture    26      32     23      17      2         



    CROP PROGRESS AS OF SEPTEMBER 29, 2002  1/
                                                       
                                                                           
                  This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM                Week   Week   Year    Ave
  
                         Percent
Corn          
 mature              78     57     80      77
 grain harvested      9      5     10      10
 silage harvested    91     81     91      87
Sorghum      
 mature              54     41     73      69
 grain harvested     14     12     19      15
 silage harvested    77     63     67      61
Soybeans    
 dropping leaves     96     88     92      93
 mature              75     43     60      68
 harvested           23      6     13      20
Sunflower   
 bracts yellow       90     82     95      91
 mature              49     39     64      62
 harvested           12      3      9      13
Winter Wheat
 seeded              70     44     67      72
 emerged             29     14     30      37 
Winter Rye  
 seeded              73     59     78      76  
 emerged             38     28     36      42 
Alfalfa     
 3rd cutting         79     70     84      72                


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



                             SOIL TEMPERATURES
               WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 29, 2002 (4-inch Depth)

LOCATION      TEMP             LOCATION   TEMP
          
Beresford      57              Gettysburg   57
Brookings      54              Nisland      57
Caputa         55              Pierre       60
Chamberlain    60              Redfield     53
Cottonwood     57              Watertown    52



                 TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION, and GROWING DEGREE DAYS
                           WEEK ENDING SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 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       51  -5  76  31| 0.12   6.88   6.29  -7.98  -6.61|  2692  +364
Buffalo     50  -6  69  29| 0.00   5.09   4.72  -7.09  -6.28|  2588  +379
Dupree      53  -5  76  30| 0.47   7.52   6.90  -7.08  -6.01|  2886  +320
Mc Intosh   50  -6  74  26| 0.00   6.98   6.19  -7.59  -6.91|  2595  +227
Newell      48  -8  71  33| 0.08  10.63   9.40  -2.47  -2.20|  2536  +220
Timber Lake 51  -5  73  28| 0.19   7.93   7.11  -7.55  -6.41|  2771  +352
Aberdeen    49  -8  69  28| 0.57  13.75  12.91  -2.63  -1.29|  2660  +223
Eureka      51  -4  70  30| 0.25  13.14  12.49  -1.74  -0.81|  2781  +507
Faulkton    49  -7  71  32| 0.41  16.00  14.71  -0.33  +0.48|  2835  +439
Mobridge    51  -6  73  27| 0.20   7.38   7.20  -7.44  -5.72|  2949  +457
Roscoe      47  -9  69  29| 0.45  12.20  11.36  -4.34  -3.26|  2484   +89
Britton     51  -6  69  32| 0.40  10.68   9.92  -5.76  -4.81|  2877  +384
Clear Lake  47 -10  64  32| 0.26  15.84  12.90  -4.77  -4.80|  2508  +102
Sisseton    49  -8  69  26| 0.62  17.15  16.93  -0.93  +1.28|  2599   +50
Webster     50  -6  66  36| 0.37  18.25  17.40  -0.07  +1.37|  2612  +233
Watertown   50  -7  64  31| 0.22  14.96  14.25  -3.98  -2.16|  2630  +220
Faith       49  -8  74  32| 0.23   7.88   7.69  -6.75  -5.13|  2797  +244
Milesville  53  -5  79  33| 0.62  10.02   8.42  -5.73  -5.41|  3096  +374
Long Valley 57  -3  82  40| 0.00   4.18   3.89 -11.75 -10.17|  3198  +497
Philip      52  -7  75  37| 0.13   8.02   7.63  -6.08  -4.83|  3206  +401
Rapid City  50  -7  75  37| 0.04   9.93   9.01  -4.54  -3.52|  2822  +514
Spearfish   53  -3  75  37| 0.04  13.86  11.72  -4.96  -4.31|  2644  +444
Chamberlain 52  -8  80  36| 0.19  12.75  11.03  -2.69  -2.64|  3021   +60
Highmore    54  -5  73  35| 0.28  14.52  14.12  -2.76  -1.09|  2989  +322
Huron       53  -4  74  33| 0.35  10.85   9.44  -6.52  -5.18|  3116  +502
Onida       51  -8  73  34| 0.27  12.74  12.12  -3.31  -1.60|  2879  +137
Pierre      52  -7  73  38| 0.18  13.72  13.24  -2.61  -1.05|  3068  +253
Brookings   47  -8  65  27| 0.40  20.51  17.64  +0.50  -0.39|  2563  +386
Madison     48  -8  67  28| 0.51  13.41  12.14  -6.96  -5.12|  2684  +293
Mitchell    52  -7  76  32| 0.72  16.47  14.17  -2.50  -2.17|  3031  +207
Sioux Falls 52  -6  68  32| 0.30  19.96  18.13  -0.25  +0.71|  3012  +381
Custer      47  -6  70  33| 0.02  16.45  14.95  -0.43  -0.05|  1771  +250
Hot Springs 54  -5  77  36| 0.00  14.13  11.72  +0.11  -0.81|  2725  +170
Oelrichs    50  -9  78  33| 0.07  12.46   9.99  -2.32  -2.87|  2745   +70
Porcupine   52  -6  75  37| 0.08  12.83  11.16  -1.23  -1.42|  2711  +154
Murdo       50  -8  74  37| 0.16   9.23   7.94  -6.46  -5.49|  3025  +380
Winner      56  -6  79  35| 0.19  12.40  10.80  -8.30  -7.07|  3522  +429
Armour      54  -6  74  34| 0.11  13.38  12.35  -6.49  -4.64|  3333  +397
Centerville 51  -7  71  34| 0.26  17.55  16.50  -4.03  -2.30|  2932  +278
Marion      50  -7  70  33| 0.38  18.04  16.56  -2.85  -1.34|  2824  +225
Pickstown   53  -6  77  35| 0.09  13.10  11.98  -6.09  -4.72|  3258  +384
Vermillion  56  -5  73  31| 0.39  20.92  19.80  -0.21  +1.30|  3373  +313
Yankton     52  -7  75  32| 0.06  16.25  14.23  -4.08  -3.59|  3150  +341
       

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