Summer-Like Heat Ripens U.S. Crops, Eases Fears of Harvest Delay

September 25th, 2017

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Category: Grains, Oilseeds

(Agriculture.com) –  Unseasonably hot U.S. weather is accelerating corn and soy crop maturity after months of concerns that lagging development could drag down yields or put some late-planted acres at risk of damage from frost, agronomists and analysts said.

Farmers around the U.S. Midwest are racing to harvest crops under mostly clear skies and temperatures more indicative of mid-summer than early autumn, with highs in the 90s and 100s Fahrenheit (32-38 Celsius) speeding up in-field grain drying.

Cash bids at several elevators and processors around the Midwest weakened in anticipation of an influx of grain in the coming days and weeks, while costs for shipping supplies by barge to Gulf Coast export terminals surged on Friday.

The unseasonable heat is almost certain to add bumper bushels to an already burdensome global grain supply that has weighed down crop prices and pressured farm incomes for four years. The strong finish to the U.S. growing season comes after a cool, wet spring stalled planting and mild summer weather slowed crop development.

“It’s been a really good harvest so far. Things definitely matured quicker with this heat,” said Kirk Liefer, a farmer in Red Bud, Illinois, who had the majority of his corn harvested and expects to begin gathering soybeans this week.

A key concern now for Liefer is getting soybeans that he grows for seed harvested quickly before the crop’s moisture drops too much. Drier soybeans can be lost in the field during harvesting and are more prone to cracking, which lessens the value of the crop.

The U.S. corn crop was just 34 percent mature as of Sept. 17, more than 8 percentage points behind the prior 10-year mid-September average, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Harvest was 7 percent complete, 3 points behind the 10-year pace.

The agency will update the weekly figures on Monday afternoon, with analysts expecting a solid increase in both.

“To have the highest temperatures for three days in a row in the second half of September is very strange,” said Emerson Nafziger, agronomist at the University of Illinois Extension. “This dry pattern is expected to continue for a while. People are happy to get harvest done without any interruptions.”

Farmers will let crops dry down naturally in fields, saving them money on drying costs.

“The propane industry won’t be happy. They are always trying to anticipate what the drying needs will be, and if this continues, the drying needs will quite a bit less,” said Roger Elmore, professor and agronomist at the University of Nebraska.

Temperatures are expected to remain above normal for about another week, with a chance for rain in northern sections of the western Corn Belt early in that period, according to Commodity Weather Group agricultural meteorologist David Streit.

As of Friday, high temperatures in Chicago, in the center of the U.S. Corn Belt, set records and topped 90 degrees Fahrenheit for three straight days, according to the National Weather Service. That followed only one day above 90 degrees in August, and two in July.

SHIPPING WOES

The Midwest heat wave comes amid a dry spell that has dropped Midwest river levels and forced shippers to load export-bound barges with less grain to prevent them from grounding in the shallower waterways.

The U.S. Coast Guard closed a section of the Illinois River due to low water and imposed draft restrictions along a nearly 150-mile stretch of the Mississippi River from Tiptonville, Tennessee, to Memphis.

Low water may also allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to continue a project stalled since 2014 to remove river-bed rock pinnacles near Thebes, Illinois.

Freight rates for hauling grain by barge to Gulf Coast export terminals over the next three weeks spiked on Friday as shippers prepared for an influx of crops.

Corn bids at elevators and processors plunged as much as 13 cents a bushel, while soybean bids were as much as 28 cents lower.

 

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