Weather

Winter Wheat Planting Delayed on the Great Plains

On the Plains, widespread soil moisture shortages are delaying winter wheat planting, with severe to exceptional drought firmly entrenched from South Dakota and Wyoming into Texas. Recent showers have improved soil moisture on the southern Plains, although more rain is needed to facilitate winter grain establishment.

Across the Corn Belt, cool, showery weather is slowing fieldwork and summer crop dry-down, although dry, warm conditions persist in western portions of the region.

In the South, dry, mild weather is promoting summer crop dry-down and seasonal fieldwork. However, showers linger in Florida and are approaching the northern Delta along a slow-moving cold front.

In the West, late-summer heat and dryness are discouraging producers from winter wheat planting, especially in Idaho and Oregon. Fieldwork continues at a rapid pace elsewhere in the region.