Rains this past week were welcome

The rain gauge at the USDA Service Center in Fort Scott showed a total of 1.75 inches of rain over last weekend. That is the most rainfall -- and the first time we have received over one inch at a time -- since April 30. We actually did record over 5 inches on that late April day, but no significant accumulations had been recorded since then.

There is a possibility that some of the later developing soybeans could benefit appreciably (depending on what growth stage they are currently in) and produce some measure of a crop rather than the near total failure anticipated without the rain. With prices continuing to trend higher, even modest potential increases in yield are a pleasantly encouraging development.

The corn crop, having already matured, simply "is what it is." Most of the corn has already been harvested in this area with lower than average yields in evidence. When spring rolled around this year, the corn outlook was noteworthy. U.S. farmers planted 96.4 million acres of corn, up 5 percent from last year, making it the highest corn acreage in the last 75 years (since 1937), according to the Acreage report released last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). This marks the fourth year in a row of increases in corn acreage in the United States.

Favorable field conditions across much of the major corn-producing region helped corn growers get off to a fast start in 2012. By May 20, the planting was nearly complete, representing the quickest planting pace on record. Virtually all of the acreage had emerged by June 3.

U.S. soybean growers also reported a significant acreage increase this year. According to the report, 76.1 million acres have been planted to soybeans, up 1 percent from 2011. This is the third-largest soybean acreage on record.

Just as with corn, the weather allowed soybean growers to get off to a quick start this year. By June 3, 94 percent of this year's crop was planted, 30 percentage points ahead of last year's pace. Nearly 80 percent of the crop had also emerged by that time, 40 points ahead of the 2011 pace.

A significant acreage increase was also reported for wheat. The report showed that growers planted 56 million acres for all wheat, including spring, Durum and winter, a 3 percent increase from 2011. More acres were seeded to winter wheat for 2012 harvest due to expectations of better net returns compared with last year.

Unlike the other major crops, cotton growers reported a decrease in acreage this year. According to the report, there are 12.6 million acres planted to cotton, down 14 percent from 2011. Farmers planted 12.4 million acres of Upland cotton, down 14 percent from last year, and 235,000 acres of American Pima variety, 24 percent down from 2011.

NASS also released the quarterly Grain Stocks report, showing corn stocks down 14 percent from June 2011, soybean stocks up 8 percent and all wheat stocks down 14 percent. With a total disappearance of 2.87 billion bushels between March and May of this year, this is the highest disappearance on record for corn during this quarter. The soybean disappearance of 707 million bushels is also the second largest disappearance on record - these figures also supporting the trending higher markets.

Acreage, Grain Stocks and all other NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.

The August corn harvest forecast from USDA showed a 13 percent decline in the projected total yield down to an expected 123.4 bushels per acre. (Note: The corn in other areas must be much better than our crop around here.) The next updated projection will likely show an additional adjustment downward for corn. With the recent beneficial rainfall, perhaps soybeans will show some recovery instead.

PROGRAM NOTE: Reports of actual CRP acres hayed or grazed and tons actually harvested are due by August 31. One of the contracted persons must sign off on this report. If the needed signer cannot stop by our office, this can be done by fax, email, or regular mail if needed.

Contact our office at (620) 223-1880 to get this process completed.