03/30/06 USDA says Plains needs more rain

Farm and Ranch March 30, 2006 A big storm two weeks ago didn't do much to relieve the drought plagued winter wheat crop in the U.S. Southern Plains. And USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says that's not surprising. Rippey: "Not much improvement. That was pretty much expected because the wheat was too far gone to show much improvement in the South. Still looking on March 26th at 78% of the winter wheat rated very poor to poor in Texas and 65% in Oklahoma." But that storm did help the crop in the Central Plains as it dropped a blanket of snow in those areas. Rippey: "Wheat condition now rated 29% very poor to poor and 11% in Nebraska and up into Montana." Warm weather is melting any remaining snow. And while there have been some rains this week in the southern Plains they largely bypassed the driest areas. As a result USDA says much more rain is need on the southern High Plains. USDA's Rippey says the 8-14 day outlook has moisture in it but not for the southern Plains. Rippey: "Looking for wet conditions northern California up through the Northwest. Generally near normal precipitation through the northern Plains and the Midwest and then mostly dry from the southern Plains to the Southeast, south of the storm tracks." Rippey says temperatures for period April 4th through 10th are expected to be above normal for the Plains to East Coast with cool weather for the West coast states. This report has been sponsored by DuPont Crop Protection for Wheat. When you can't count on the weather, count on DuPont. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.