Click here to download a printer friendly (pdf) version
CROP AND WEATHER REPORT
For the Monthly Report Ending June 15, 2022
GENERAL COMMENTS & WEATHER: The weather in the last month in Southwestern Minnesota (SWMN) has been erratic to say the least. We have experienced high temperatures ranging from 60 to 90 degrees. There have been multiple severe storms through the area bringing strong winds with some hail. Rainfall has been recorded on about 17 of the past 30 days and there was as much as 5-inches of rain in one event in an isolated part of Cottonwood County. Fortunately, most of our region did not have that much rainfall at one time.
The cool start to the growing season has caused other issues as some uneven emergence has been reported, especially in the soybeans. Even with a few 90-degree days, we are still 35 Growing Degree Days behind the historical average, according to the Southwestern Minnesota Research & Outreach Center (SWROC) in Lamberton. The cool, wet weather appears to be trend behind us, with not much of a chance of rain, as the upcoming 14-day forecast has high temperatures ranging from 84-99 degrees.
Figure 1 – The corn is developing nicely in a majority of our territory.
The extreme weather that hit SWMN this past month started May 30th with a thunderstorm in Rock County that brought with it sizeable hailstones. This was very unfortunate for the producers in that area, as they were one of the first regions to have completed planting and most of the crops had already emerged. The soybean fields affected have since been interseeded and insurance claims have been filed. The weather events continued later that day with tornado warnings and winds exceeding 60 mph and caused damage to bins and roofs in the Heron Lake/Okabena/Lakefield area. The most recent storm system to go through the area on the morning of June 13th dropped over 5-inches of rain between Windom and Jeffers, with the rest of the area receiving anywhere from 0.5 to 2-inches of rain.
CORN: The corn planting in Minnesota is now 98% complete, with 85% emergence. This is 8 days behind the five-year average. The USDA has Minnesota’s corn condition rating at 58% good to excellent. Nationally, the corn rating is at 72% good to excellent, with Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana having some of the highest rated crops while Minnesota is one of the lowest along with North Dakota.
With later planting and recent wet weather, there are still a few field operations left for the cornfields. Most of the rocks have been picked and a majority of the first herbicide treatment has been applied. For the fields that are waiting for an herbicide application, thankfully the cooler conditions have not allowed weeds to thrive, but the recent and upcoming warmth and moisture will definitely give them a boost. As soon as fields become fit, side-dressing nitrogen will be completed, the post herbicide will be applied, and then we will be done with field operations until harvest.
Figure 2 – Uneven soybean emergence is easy to see on this section of ground with no corn stalk residue
SOYBEANS: Soybean planting in Minnesota is 88% complete, with 62% emerged, which is 10 days behind the five-year average. The soybeans in Minnesota are rated 61% good to excellent while nationally 70% of the soybeans are good to excellent, an increase from 62% at this time last year.
Locally soybean emergence has been an issue. There are a variety of factors that have led to this issue, but most seem to be related to the cool temperatures at the time of planting and hard rainfall events/crusting soils prior to emergence. If a soybean stand was below 90,000 plants per acre, we have been interseeding to get the overall stand up to where it should be. There are still a lot of field operations left for the soybeans. The rocks are being picked and the second application of herbicide is still going to be applied in the coming weeks. We are past the June 12th deadline to spray Dicamba, so only Liberty, Enlist (2-4D), or other traditional products can be used.
Figure 3 – Hail damaged soybean fields were replanted in early June and you can see the difference in development between the original stand and the interseeded plants.
REMARKS: There is continued support for both corn and soybeans in the grain markets. Rumors of Russia allowing exports of grain out of Ukraine had everyone paying attention, but with the demands to the United Nations (U.N.) to remove sanctions, it does not appear likely to happen. The USDA monthly Supply & Demand Report released on June 10th increased ending stocks of U.S. corn from 1.44 billion bushels up slightly to 1.485 billion bushels for the 2021 crop. They also increased projected 2022 ending stock by 40 million bushels up to 1.4 billion. For soybeans, USDA decreased the 2022 ending stocks from 310 million bushels down to 280 million bushels. The overall reaction to the report was very neutral. Our clients are nearly sold out of 2021 corn and soybeans. The last sales were at a Company record $8 per bushel for corn and the second highest price of $16.50 per bushel of soybeans. The last 2022 sales were for about $7 per bushel of corn and $15 per bushel of soybeans. The next key information for the grain markets will be the USDA Acreage and Quarterly Stocks report set to be released on June 30th.
The Biden administration wants to bring additional acres into crop production due to the outlook of the world food supply from the war in Ukraine. One option that they have approved is to give landowners the chance to remove acres from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) as long as they are in the last year of the contract. Currently no Fairland clients have any CRP that is eligible for this option. This policy is not viewed as one that will have a significant effect, as the amount of acres that fit the parameters is small and the acres typically enrolled into CRP are typically not as productive as the rest of the farm.
Figure 4 – Corn planted into ground that was previously CRP acres in 2021. Bringing acres back into production takes additional herbicide and nitrogen to become productive.
Things are certainly staying busy at Fairland. There has been some extra crop scouting with the delayed planting, uneven emergence, and interseeding soybeans. We continue to monitor your fields for crop development issues, weed outbreaks, drainage concerns, and any other cropping concerns. There was a more than usual amount of prepayments for crop inputs this year. The accounts are now being reconciled with the vendors as the products are being delivered and used. The accounting staff is working on projections as well. We are processing acreage certifications with the FSA and crop insurance agents and filing the replant claims. There are still many ongoing projects concerning wind development, conservation easements/1031 exchanges, CRP maintenance, County Ditch info, and several other client projects. It has been a wild year so far and it does not show signs of slowing down.
Growing-Degree Days
| May 1, 2022 to DATE INDICATED | TOTAL GROWING DEGREE DAYS | DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL | |
| LOCATION Lamberton |
June 13-2022 | 526 | -35 |
Corn Growing Degree Days are calculated by subtracting a 50 degree base temperature from the average of the maximum and minimum temperature for the day. The daily maximum is limited to 86 degrees and the minimum is 50 degrees.
Grain Markets (June 15, 2022)
| New Vision-Windom | Magnolia | POET Ethanol-Bingham Lake | Minnesota Soybean Processors- Brewster | |
| Cash-Corn | 8.04 | 8.05 | 8.09 | N/A |
| Cash-Soybeans | 16.55 | 16.53 | N/A | 16.79 |
| October 2022-Corn | 6.86 | 6.81 | 6.87 | N/A |
| October 2022 -Soybeans | 14.80 | 14.88 | N/A | 15.03 |
Rainfall (Inches):
| County | City | May 19 – June 15, 2022 | March 15 to date-2022 | March 15 to date-2021 |
| Cottonwood | Jeffers | 3.3 | 9.9 | 4.2 |
| Cottonwood | Windom | 5.3 | 11.0 | 4.6 |
| Jackson | Heron Lake | 6.5 | 13.4 | 5.8 |
| Jackson | Jackson | 3.5 | 8.1 | 5.6 |
| Martin | Trimont | 3.3 | 9.7 | 5.9 |
| Murray | Fulda | 5.1 | 10.9 | 6.6 |
| Murray | Slayton |
2.0 |
8.9 | 5.5 |
| Nobles | Round Lake | 5.7 | 11.0 | 6.7 |
| Nobles | Rushmore | 7.3 | 13.0 | 7.4 |
| Redwood | Redwood Falls |
1.8 |
8.0 | 4.5 |
| Rock | Magnolia | 5.6 | 10.9 | 7.5 |
Cody I. Adrian
Farm Management Advisor
Real Estate Salesperson