Crop progress for the week ending August 2, 2015.
Julia Houck – Ashe/Alleghany County FSA: Some pockets in the county continue to be dry. Producers are starting to make second cutting hay. If more rain is not received, I don’t think we will have much second cutting hay. Produce crops are looking good at this time.
Janice Nicholson – Rutherford County: Rutherford County’s crops and pastures are suffering due to the extremely hot and dry conditions.
Mike Wilder – Agronomist Region 6: FSA Hot and dry, stressed conditions in most of NCDA Agronomic Region 6, with a few areas receiving adequate rainfall from scattered heavy showers.
Paul Westfall – Granville County: All crops are pretty dry, and pastures are not growing much. Hay is being cut, but quality is not very good due to the maturity of the forage. Pastures are growing much due to low moisture and temperatures. Tobacco harvest continued with average to good yields reported from most farms. Soybeans are in good shape, but corn is again suffering from higher temperatures and low moisture. Some corn silage was harvested during the week.
Gary Cross – Person County Extension: Extension Most tobacco producers are getting through first cut. Soybeans are progressing well but the heat may cause flowers to abort affecting yield. Corn is progressing well there are a few fields under stress that were planted late. Hay fields look very good due to rains.
Don Nicholson – Agronomist Region 7: A large portion of region 7 is very dry, leading to a general worsening of crop conditions. The tobacco crop is deteriorating rapidly in areas that have not received adequate rainfall in several weeks. Lower stalk quality is suffering.
Taylor Williams – Moore County Extension: Extremely hot, dry conditions have adversely impacted most crops. Lugs on tobacco are scalded, particularly in late topped fields. Corn was in grain fill in most plantings, and hot dry weather has impacted that. Much of the soybean and sorghum crops will be lost without rain soon.
Roy Thagard – Greene County Extension: Crop conditions overall are good. Disease pressure in soybeans and peanuts is very light. Insect feeding in all crops is very light at this point, though we are monitoring stink bugs and corn earworm. Everybody could use some rain as it’s starting to get dry again. Most tobacco will have been primed by the end of the week. Tobacco is shaping up to be a late crop this season.
Mac Malloy -Robeson County Extension: Dry conditions continue to persist throughout the county. Some areas received scattered amounts of rainfall across the county on Thursday. Reports of Sugar cane aphids are coming in on a widespread basis in sorghum. Growers are scrambling to make treatments for this new pest and corn earworm. Light trap data indicated moth flight peaked last week
