About 21 percent of the national soybean crop is in this stage, the USDA says
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Soybeans in every major producing state are beginning to set pods, the USDA’s Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin said on July 30.
About 21 percent of national soybean acres are in this stage. This figure is 37 percent behind last year.
On a state level, 81 percent of soybeans in Louisiana have set pods. That number is the highest among the 18 documented states.
In Mississippi, where soybeans have set 63 percent of their pods, producers are happy with how the crops look.
“The ones that we have look pretty good,” Gip Carter, a producer from Rolling Fork, Miss., told Farms.com. “We were late getting everything planted, so the crop is a little behind. But, overall, the beans look good at this point, so let’s just hope we have a good finish to the season.”
Soybeans in Indiana have set 8 percent of their pods, which is the lowest of the recorded states.
The U.S. corn crop continues to progress.
About 13 percent of the national corn crop is in the dough stage, the USDA says. That figure is down from 35 percent last year.
A stretch of dry conditions is affecting pollination, said Chad Blake, a corn producer from North Wilkesboro, N.C.
“We’re hoping for some rain right now,” he told Farms.com. “If the dry weather continues, some ears won’t have kernels on them. Any temperature over 87 F seems to stress the corn, so we could use a good rain to cool things down just a little bit.”
Producers are also wrapping up winter wheat harvest.
About 75 percent of the U.S. winter wheat crop is in the bin, the USDA says. That number is down from 84 percent last year.
Farmers in Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas have completed their winter wheat harvest, while producers in Montana have just begin.