CHICAGO, Ill. (Reuters) — A cool April in the southern U.S. Plains and Delta region will slow planting, says an agricultural meteorologist.
However, below-normal rainfall across the main crop belt should prevent any major planting delays this spring.
“We’ll see delays continue across some southern areas, but when you get into the major production areas, I don’t think we’re going to have any major delays,” said Kyle Tapley with MDA Weather Services.
Tapley also said mild temperatures and timely rain across the corn belt this summer, other than some dryness in the western belt, will be favourable for crops and likely produce strong yields.
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If realized, this would be the third straight year of generally mild summer weather and bumper crops for the United States and would follow a drought in 2012 that was the worst in half a century.
Tapley said corn yields average 1.9 percent above the trend and soybean yields are 3.6 percent higher in years similar to this spring.
MDA expects the national corn yield will be 167.5 bushels per acre and soybeans will be 45.9 bu. per acre. Last year’s average corn yield was 171 and soybeans were 47.8, which were both record highs.
Wet fields in March in the southern states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas have slowed corn planting, which is now running a couple weeks behind normal.
High-tech planters, which seed more than 30 rows on one sweep, allow farmers to catch up quickly. However, more acres could be seeded to soybeans if corn planting gets too far behind because it has a shorter growing season and is planted after corn.
Analysts are already forecasting that U.S. farmers could plant three million or more acres to soybeans than they did last year, given corn’s higher seeding costs and soybean’s less costly nitrogen requirements.
A neutral to weak El Nino indicates mostly favourable growing conditions for the central U.S.
However, Tapley said there are concerns about drier than normal conditions in the central and northern Plains, which could stress hard red winter wheat as it breaks dormancy.
