Drought continues for many crops across the country, but USDA Meteorologist, Brad Rippey, says that footprint is slowly declining in the Midwest.
“As of February 28th, only 34 percent of U.S. corn production area is in drought. 26 percent of the soybean production area. Those numbers are down from last autumn’s peak of 71 perent for both corn and soybeans. Meanwhile, winter wheat still a problem there because of the focus of the remaining drought across the Great Plains. We see 54 percent of the winter wheat production area in drought as of February 28th. That’s down from 57 percent at the end of January and down from 75 percent last autumn. We do see improvements also in the hay production area in drought for the country, 34% is the current number, down from 69 percent last autumn,” says Brad Rippey.
As for pastures and range lands, Rippey says we are still waiting for the spring season to see the benefits of this winter moisture.
