Updated Totals

Well it has been two weeks since the last update and nearly every farm in the tour received some rain.  (Table is below).  The areas that were wet continue to be wet and the drier areas are still dry.  Additionally the heat units continue to be ahead of normal despite the cooler last two weeks.

The 5 driest areas compared to the 10 year norm are all in Illinois.  Stark and La Salle Counties are 4 inches behind the normal precipitation.  However these farms all should be almost pollinated by now. So can they get some rain over the next few weeks for grain fill?  I would expect all those fields to have high yield potential, but with the shortage of rain, grain fill rainfall is going to be important to realizing that high potential.

The 5 wettest areas are in Iowa and Nebraska.  Cass IA was very dry when we visited and has received 4 plus inches of rain since our visit.  Henry IL has received the most rain since our visit with nearly 9.5 inches since June 20.

Heat will be the issue over the next couple of weeks as a ridge builds in the Midwest over the next couple of weeks.  The forecast is for high temps and low precip so look for the markets to react as we change the forecast from day to day in this very critical time for corn reproduction.  All sites are at least 3 days ahead of normal GDD's with the Nebraska sites being 8 days ahead of the norm.

We are sure to see the skies filled with aircraft spraying fungicides this week in Central Illinois.  Please get out and scout your fields as we are starting to find gray leaf spot in many of our fields at low levels.  Heat and humidity are perfect conditions to exacerbate this disease.

Check back in a couple of weeks for updated charts and information.  Thanks for following our thoughts.