The peak of spring planting is weeks away, but the ongoing drought is weighing on growers’ minds.
USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey says that the dryness is expanding in key areas.
“We’ve seen substantial increases in recent weeks-- corn and drought production area and drought was as low as 17 percent last growing season, but then the number has since doubled to 34 percent. We’ve seen almost a doubling in soybean production area in drought, 13 percent was the low during the growing season last year-- current number is 25 percent,” according to Rippey.
The cotton crop has a similar outlook. Rippey says that concerns will only increase if trends continue over the next couple of months.
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