USDA Crop Progress Report: Good Conditions.

Jun 16, 2014

USDA Released the weekly Crop Progress Report. Here is the link to the full report.

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProg/CropProg-06-16-2014.pdf

Some highlights from this week.

USDA’s national corn condition rating improved slightly over the past week, while the rating for soybeans had a very modest decline.

As of Sunday, 76% of U.S. corn is in good to excellent condition, up 1% on the week and 12% more than this time last year. 97% of the crop has emerged, compared to 91% a year ago and the five year average of 96%.

92% of soybeans are planted, compared to 83% last year and 90% on average, and 83% have emerged, compared to 63% a year ago and 77% on average. 73% of soybeans are called good to excellent, down 1% on the week, but 9% above last year.

92% of winter wheat has headed, compared to 90% on average, and 16% is harvested, compared to the five year average of 20%. 30% of winter wheat is rated good to excellent and 44% is called poor to very poor, all unchanged on the week.

91% of spring wheat has emerged, compared to 90% on average, with 72% rated good to excellent, up 1% from a week ago.

54% of U.S. pastures and rangelands are in good to excellent shape, which is 3% more than last week.

Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.