Rainy weather continues to hamper farmers’ efforts to get back into the fields to finish planting soybeans and harvesting hay. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, statewide precipitation averaged 3.24 inches, leaving only 2.3 days rated as suitable for fieldwork. The average temperature last week was 75.8 degrees, which is 4.6 degrees higher than normal.
The state soybean crop is now 90% planted, up just two percentage points from last week, and still below the five-year average of 92%. 84% of the soybean crop has emerged from the soil.
Hay producers have finished with 81% of their first cutting of the year, which is identical to the same time period last year, and just one percentage point behind the five-year average.