Harvest
9 Percent Complete, Crop Maturation Well Behind Normal (9-23-04)
Corn growers
have harvested 9 percent of this fall’s crop,
but harvest and crop development are still behind the average pace,
according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Denting remained well behind normal across the northern Great
Plains and northern Corn Belt, despite steady progress under warm
conditions. Denting reached 85 percent completion last week, 8
percentage points behind last year and 9 points behind the five-year
average.
Crop maturity,
which reached 43 percent, also is lagging behind last year’s pace of 54 percent. Hampered by excessively cool,
wet weather, Minnesota’s crop is just 1 percent mature, compared
to 66 percent at this time last year. North Dakota’s crop
is also well behind normal, with just 3 percent of the crop reaching
maturity compared to 56 percent last year. Crop maturity in Wisconsin,
South Dakota, Iowa and Colorado is also significantly off of last
year’s pace.
Farmers in
Texas, Tennessee and North Carolina have already harvested 60
percent or more
of the respective states’ crops, while
harvest in the central Corn Belt has just begun.