World Crop Weather Highlights

21/06/11 -- World agri-weather highlights from the excellent Martell Crop Projections:

  • Rainy and cool weather continues this week in Canada prairies; planting of canola, wheat and barley is finished, too wet to proceed; reduced crop area predicted second year in a row; perhaps a shortfall in crop production will follow; US grain belt is stuck in wet pattern; recurring showers daily in Midwest corn-soybeans; cool temperatures and wet fields are slowing crop growth; some flooding is occurring; US crops in Deep South finally expecting heavy rain; moisture stress has grown severe with accompanying hot temperatures; heavy rain projected for Lower Mississippi Delta in soybeans, cotton and rice areas; all are in need of rain

  • Central Brazil Mato Grosso state is hot and dry once again; showers that occurred early in June are a distant memory; mid 90s F and hot sunny weather have returned; Sao Paulo state also is very dry; harvesting of coffee and sugarcane, stressing under way; suspect there is moisture stress also; May-June very dry also in Minas Gerais, Goias; Southern wheat state Rio Grande do Sul got heavy rain in recent days; flooding a risk with an additional 4-5 inches predicted

  • Argentina western grain belt in throes of drought; western Cordoba, La Pampa, western Buenos Aires all dry; soil moisture way better in Santa Fe, Entre Rios; feels like La Nina dry influence is in place; new crop wheat plantings up sharply but dryness and cold preventing growth; corn and soybean harvest is winding down; government raised corn slightly, lowered soybeans; not a major adjustment from previous estimates

  • Europe weather conditions rainy in June; opposite of May's severe drought; sharply cooler temperatures this week; night lows in the 50s F, highs 60s-low 70s F; unsettled weather will persist, some rain, not real heavy; very heavy rain projected in Ukraine, Belorussia, where spring drought was severe; all together opposite of May growing conditions; summer crops will benefit

  • Australia rainfall chances improving a little in southeastern wheat growing areas; rain is needed ; conditions grew progressively drier the past 4-6 weeks in Victoria, southern New South Wales; Western Australia drought is still a major worry, worst in northern wheat growing areas; new 7-day forecast more hopeful for rain Western Australia; warm temperatures are keeping evaporation elevated, drying fields

  • China heat wave underway in Northeast provinces; corn-soybean growth is accelerating with generous field moisture; cooler weather is on the way, showers are exiting; watching the weather in North China Plain; forecast is wetter; this is a key cotton, corn and peanut area; rainfall was virtually non-existent June-to-date; Yangtze River valley getting regular rains in June, even floods; March-May was exceptionally dry in this area

  • India monsoon zeroing in on Central India; very heavy rains yesterday up to 6 inches in Madhya Pradesh; rain deluge last week affected northeast India, a key rice area; new forecast extremely wet in the Gangetic Plain across northern India; no complaints about monsoon peformance in June; exception is South India where June has been dry

  • European Russia bracing for heavy rainfall; rain occurred Monday in Baltic countries, moving into Belorussia; Ukraine forecast is particularly wet; western Ukraine temperatures in the 70s Monday, eastern Ukraine 90s F with progressive cool front; wonder if rain is too late to help winter wheat and rapeseed; spring growing conditions were extremely dry March-May and also unseasonably hot; summer crops corn, soybeans and sunflower may reap the greatest rewards from heavy June rain if it occurs as predicted; Russia Black Earth grains under extreme stress yesterday with 90s F; rain has been sub-normal for 3 months; suspect winter wheat will make a poor crop; Volga grains in very good shape, no heat or moisture stress in the spring-early summer