Crop Progress Report

October 15 , 2007

Rain Slows Harvest Progress

Rain over the weekend has slowed harvest, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Nebraska Field Office. The beginning of the week had favorable weather conditions which kept this year’s harvest ahead of schedule. Corn harvested was 37 percent complete, which is one week ahead of last year’s 25 percent complete. It is also ahead of the average of 31 percent.

Temperatures were 2 degrees below normal this past week. Every district received precipitation ranging from 0.80 inches in the North Central District to 2.15 inches in the East Central District.

Corn conditions rated 1 percent very poor, 3 poor, 14 fair, 49 good, and 33 excellent which is well above last year’s 54 percent good or excellent rating.

The following pictures are taken by FFA Chapters across the state representing each of the eight districts. They show the crop progress in each area and illustrate the differences in progress throughout the state of Nebraska.

These pictures were submitted by the Heartland FFA Chapter. The field is located near Henderson in District 3. The weather has been damp and rainy in the area and the field conditions are soft. The field in the pictures was harvested October 8 and yielded between 200 and 220 bushels per acre.

After the corn is harvested, grazing corn stalks can be a valuable tool for beef cattle producers. They serve as a feed supply that can delay the need to feed hay while retaining much of the nutrients in the field.

AG FACTS

• One acre of corn that yields 150 bushels per acre or better can feed a 1200 pound steer for 44 days.
• More than 2.1 billion bushels of corn fed people and animals in other countries last year. The ten biggest international customers for U.S. corn are Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, South Korea, Egypt, Colombia, Algeria, Canada, Israel, and the Dominican Republic.