News

Minnesota corn crop going from bad to worse as drought continues

Scattered showers provided little relief to areas of Minnesota suffering from drought.

The latest USDA crop report says most of the state is still very dry and in need of more rain, with reports of some crop conditions slightly improving while others remained unchanged or declined.

For corn, just 36 percent is considered good to excellent.  That’s down two percentage points on the week and five percentage points on the month.

Corn silking reached 96 percent, the same as last year but one week ahead of the five-year average.

Soybeans rated good to excellent fell from 36 to 34 percent on the week, with nearly 70 percent setting pods.  That’s a day behind a year ago, but three days faster than normal.

The spring wheat harvest is 32 percent done as the condition of the crop improved slightly but is still just 12 percent good to excellent.

Sugarbeets are called 68 percent good to excellent, and the second cutting of alfalfa hay reached 88 percent.