Good Week for Crops, But Farmers Need More Heat
Wednesday, September 4th, 2019 -- 8:40 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -Instead of getting the humid weather necessary to ensure a strong finish to the growing season, most of Wisconsin experienced below normal temperatures during the final week of August.According to the Wisconsin Ag Statistics Service, daytime highs reached the 70s and 80s last week, but the nighttime low were in the upper 30s in the far north. The weekly crop report also noted that intermittent rain interrupted the hay and grain harvest in certain areas. Topsoil moisture levels was rated 11 percent short, 84 percent adequate and five percent surplus. As of Sunday, 92 percent of the corn crop was silking and 61 percent reached the dough stage. About 18 percent of the crop was dented, 13 days behind last year and 10 days slower than average. Corn condition was 66 percent good to excellent, up five percentage points from last week.
In the soybean fields, all but eight percent of that crop was blooming. That's 20 days behind both the last year and the five-year average. Eighty-one percent of the beans were setting pods and leaves were coloring on five percent of the fields. Nearly all of the winter wheat crop was harvested by Labor Day and 73 percent of the oats are now off the field. Farmers had about 79 percent of their third cutting of alfalfa hay harvested, with fourth crop nearly 20 percent complete.
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