South Dakota saw below normal temperatures and above normal temperatures last week prompting crop immersion and growth across the state.
Temperatures were two to eight degrees higher than normal and rainfall was scattered across the state. Erik Gerlach is a state statistician with the Agricultural Statistics Office. He says some areas received ample moisture last week.
“Well, the rainfall definitely varied across the state. There are places that are looking to put up hay and things, probably have a decent amount of moisture now. And there are places across the state that didn’t get hardly anything last week, so it varies across the state. We’re fortunate to see that our crop condition ratings held steady across for most of the crops. You know we’ll look forward to those places that were wet to hopefully get a few dry days to get their hay put up,” says Gerlach.
Farmers had five and a half suitable days for fieldwork and the topsoil moisture was rated 75 percent adequate. Corn crops are 95 percent emerged and Soybeans are 96 percent planted.