NAPERVILLE, Illinois, July 3 (Reuters) - Critical rainfall came at the end of last week for many Crop Watch fields in the heart of the Corn Belt, notably upping crop conditions, though a couple of locations remain light on moisture.
Normal-to-cool weather is expected through mid-July for much of the Corn Belt, mostly favorable for pollination. Nine of the 11 Crop Watch corn fields should be tasseling within the next 10 days or so. The Ohio corn is about three weeks out and North Dakota is between two and five weeks away since the corn field is very uneven.
Rainfall over the next several days should be largely supportive and may cover some of the drier areas in the west. The central Corn Belt is unlikely to be as wet as last week.
Although cool July weather generally supports big crop yields, a couple of the Crop Watch producers mentioned that their fields could benefit from some heat and sun.
CONDITIONS
Crop Watch producers assign condition scores to their fields each week on a 1-to-5 scale, similar to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s system where 1 is very poor, 3 is average and 5 is excellent.
The 11-field, unweighted average corn condition jumped to 4.05 from 3.86 the week before on quarter-point improvements in Nebraska, Kansas and Ohio, a half-point increase in Indiana and a full-point rise in southeastern Illinois. North Dakota fell one-quarter point and all other corn scores were unchanged.
That corn score is similar to the one from four weeks ago, which was coming off a sizable cut in conditions. The weekly increase was Crop Watch corn’s largest since late June 2021, when much-needed rain finally fell in the central Corn Belt.
Soybean conditions jumped to 4.05 from 3.73 in the prior week, Crop Watch beans’ biggest-ever weekly improvement but similar to that same week in June 2021. The average of 4.05 is a five-week high, though the late May score did not yet include North Dakota, the lowest-rated of the 11 bean fields.
Soybeans in Nebraska and western Iowa rose a quarter-point this week. Minnesota, Kansas, eastern Iowa and Indiana beans added half-points and southeastern Illinois rose 1 point. No reductions were made in beans.
WEATHER
Iowa and Illinois locations featured last week’s biggest rainfall totals, coming mostly on Friday and Saturday. Southeastern Illinois tallied 7.7 inches, eastern Iowa over 3 inches, western Illinois 2.7 inches and western Iowa 1.5 inches. That rain was desperately needed in the Illinois fields.
Around 1 inch of rain was observed in North Dakota, Kansas, Indiana and Ohio, and Nebraska got between a half-inch and 1 inch. South Dakota and Minnesota were the driest at 0.35 inch and 0.15 inch for the week, respectively.
The South Dakota producer is comfortable following a big rain the week before, but dryness concerns remain for Minnesota and Nebraska. The Indiana producer was a bit disappointed as the forecast had called for 2-3 inches, and more moisture will be needed in another week.
The following are the states and counties of the 2023 Crop Watch corn and soybean fields: Kingsbury, South Dakota; Freeborn, Minnesota; Burt, Nebraska; Rice, Kansas; Audubon, Iowa; Cedar, Iowa; Warren, Illinois; Crawford, Illinois; Tippecanoe, Indiana; Fairfield, Ohio. The North Dakota corn is in Griggs County and the soybeans are in Stutsman County.
Photos of the Crop Watch fields can be tracked on my Twitter feed using handle @kannbwx. Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own. (Reporting by Karen Braun Editing by Matthew Lewis)
