Rain halts wheat harvest in northern areas

A storm hit the Gulf Coast during the week ending June 24, bringing between 4 and 10 inches of rain, with isolated areas getting upwards of 15 inches, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Southern Plains Regional Field Office, Texas. Due to the rain events, temperatures were cooler than the previous week in South Central Texas, the Upper Coast, the Coastal Bend, South Texas and the Lower Valley. Some areas of the Northern Plains received between 2 and 4 inches of precipitation, while East Texas and areas of the Blacklands, South Central Texas and the Edwards Plateau received between trace amounts to half of an inch. There were 5.6 days suitable for fieldwork.

The rain halted wheat harvest in areas of the northern High Plains. Producers were plowing small grain residual in the Blacklands. Wheat harvest would down in most of the state but was delayed by rain in areas of the northern High Plains.

Dryland cotton continued to struggle in the Southern High Plains and the Northern Low Plains. In the Northern High Plains, some producers were planting sorghum on dryland cotton acres that had failed to emerge. Cotton was blooming in South Central Texas. Some dryland corn was harvested for silage in the Cross Timbers. Corn conditions varied widely in the Blacklands depending on the abundance or lack of rainfall. Corn and sorghum harvests were delayed in the Coastal Bend, South Texas and the Lower alley due to the rain. Rice in the Upper Coast was starting to head.