Indiana Farmers Pick Up Planting Pace
Published: Friday, May 22, 2020
The following is from the Indiana FiThe following is from the Indiana Field Office of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service for the week ending May 17.
Significant planting progress was made last week before late-week rains halted field activity. Soil moisture levels increased following major rain events in the latter half of the week.
The average temperature for the week was 57.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 4.3 degrees below normal for the state.
The amount of rainfall varied from .15 inches to 3.16 inches over the week. The statewide average pre-cipitation was 1.38 inches.
There were 3.7 days suitable for fieldwork.
Growers took advantage of the dry start to the week and made significant headway with corn and soybean planting, with both ending the week well ahead of the five-year average.
The cooler spring temperatures kept winter wheat progress slightly behind the five-year average.
Some damage to winter wheat and early planted soybeans was reported from the pre-vious week's frosts.
Hay and pasture growth had also slowed due to the cooler temperatures. Livestock were reported to be in good condition, though supply chain issues were a concern for producers.
Other activi-ties for the week included tillage, herbicide and fertilizer applications, and brush removal.
Topsoil moisture was rated very short, 0 percent; short, 2 percent; adequate, 59 percent; surplus, 39 percent.
Subsoil moisture was rated very short, 0 percent; short, 3 percent; adequate, 67 percent; surplus, 30 percent.
The crop pro-gress schedule (last week, previous week, 2019 and 5-year average) showed: corn planted, 72, 51, 12, 56; corn emerged, 31, 13, 3, 32; soybeans planted, 56, 37, 5, 32; soybeans emerged, 18, 7, 1, 9; winter wheat jointing, 88, 76, 76, 87; winter wheat headed, 36, 23, 37, 48.eld Office of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service for the week ending May 17.
Significant planting progress was made last week before late-week rains halted field activity. Soil moisture levels increased following major rain events in the latter half of the week.
The average tempera-ture for the week was 57.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 4.3 degrees below normal for the state.
The amount of rain-fall varied from .15 inches to 3.16 inches over the week. The statewide average precipitation was 1.38 inch-es.
There were 3.7 days suitable for fieldwork.
Growers took advantage of the dry start to the week and made significant headway with corn and soybean planting, with both ending the week well ahead of the five-year average.
The cooler spring temperatures kept winter wheat progress slightly behind the five-year aver-age.
Some damage to winter wheat and early planted soybeans was reported from the previous week's frosts.
Hay and pasture growth had also slowed due to the cooler temperatures. Livestock were reported to be in good condition, though supply chain issues were a concern for producers.
Other activities for the week included tillage, herbicide and fertilizer applications, and brush removal.
Topsoil moisture was rated very short, 0 percent; short, 2 percent; adequate, 59 percent; surplus, 39 percent.
Subsoil moisture was rated very short, 0 percent; short, 3 percent; adequate, 67 percent; surplus, 30 percent.
The crop progress schedule (last week, previous week, 2019 and 5-year average) showed: corn planted, 72, 51, 12, 56; corn emerged, 31, 13, 3, 32; soy-beans planted, 56, 37, 5, 32; soybeans emerged, 18, 7, 1, 9; winter wheat jointing, 88, 76, 76, 87; winter wheat headed, 36, 23, 37, 48.
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