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Rod Bain has a look at the drought coverage picture for crops and commodities.
Elevated drought coverage nationwide over the past month reflected in the first U.S. Drought Monitor for March. USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says for the period ending March 4th…
“Seeing drought coverage in the lower 48 states of greater than 44 percent, which is about twice what your historical average should come out to be. That 44 percent is up almost five percentage points from late January. We saw that increase from 39.6 to 44.4 percent.”
Improvements in locales, such as Southern California, the Northern Plains, and Mid-Atlantic, were offset…
“By worsening conditions in the southwest across the southern Great Plains, parts of the Midwest, and also along the southern Atlantic coast, resulting in that net increase of about five percentage points in drought coverage.”
With higher end drought coverage, D3 and D4, concentrated primarily in the western U.S. In terms of translating this to agricultural crops and commodities covered in drought across the contiguous 48 states, Rippey starts with winter wheat.
“We’ve seen fairly steady coverage over the last several weeks. We get 24 percent drought coverage between January 28th and March 4th. Main pockets of drought in winter wheat country are focused across Nebraska, South Dakota, the southern Great Plains, including Texas.”
Modest, increasing drought coverage is also noted in corn growing areas of the Midwest.
“Coverage for corn production areas in the United States stands at 60%, but most of that is lower end drought. There is still an opportunity for recovery before the majority of the crop is planted and is vegetative. For soybeans, the current number is 50% as we start March.
I’m Rod Bain reporting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D. C.