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Kentucky update: 66% corn and 33% soybeans harvested

Recent warm, dry weather has helped Kentucky farmers get back into the fields. 

Corn is 66 percent harvested and 95 percent mature.  Soybeans are 33 percent harvested, 74 percent dropping leaves, and 89 percent coloring. 

Carl Bradley, a plant pathologist with the University of Kentucky, says soybean yields have varied. “I’ve heard some that have been pleasantly surprised,” he says.  “And then I’ve talked to others that it was kind of about what they expected, which was not always great.”

He tells Brownfield he’s concerned about the state’s double-crop soybeans. “I wonder if there’s some of the rain that we got when the hurricane came through. It might have been a little too late for some of them,” he says.  “But maybe it’ll help a little bit. So the jury’s still out. I’m not sure it’s going to look real great for double-crop soybeans this year, though.”

Tobacco is 95 percent cut, with 15 percent stripped, and 60 percent of the housed tobacco is rated good to excellent.

Nine percent of the winter wheat crop has been planted. 

Pastures are rated 38 percent good or excellent, up from 31 percent last week.  The largest improvement has been in areas where ample rain has fallen, and other areas could use some precipitation for additional pasture growth.

Topsoil moisture is 87 percent adequate to surplus, and subsoil moisture is 77 percent adequate to surplus.