Wet weather to soothe fears for US soybean crop in coming days: USDA

New Delhi — The US soybean crop is expected to benefit from rain in the coming days, which might also alleviate dry soil concerns in the Midwest, which is America's top soybean producing region.

Rain is benefiting corn and soybeans in areas of the eastern Corn Belt that had turned dry in recent weeks, the US Department of Agriculture said June 23. In the Corn Belt, a low-pressure system and its attendant cold front is producing showers and thunderstorms from the Great Lakes region southward into the Ohio Valley, it added.

According to weather agency Maxar, much wetter weather is expected across the Corn Belt this week, with the heaviest precipitation expected in Kansas, southeastern Nebraska, western Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The rain in these areas will lead to major improvements in soil moisture and will favor corn and soybean growth, the weather agency added.

Late in the week that started June 21, a new cold front will traverse the northern Plains, Midwest and Northeast, generating scattered to widespread showers and thunderstorms, the USDA said. Five-day rainfall totals could total 1 to 2 inches or more in the western and central Gulf Coast states, as well as parts of the Midwest and Northeast, it added.

US farmers have planted 96% of the intended soybean acreage of 83.5 million acres for the 2020-2021 marketing year through June 21, up 13 percentage points on the year and 3 percentage points above the five-year average, according to data released June 22 by the USDA.

The 2020-2021 marketing year runs from September 2020 to August 2021.

Almost all the Midwestern states planted soybeans at a pace above the five-year average due to favorable weather in the week that ended June 20, sources said. Farmers are taking a risk on expectations that soil moisture will continue to be favorable in the coming weeks, and so far their risks are paying off, sources added.

So far, 89% of the planted soybeans have emerged, compared with 66% at the same point last year and an 85% average over the last five years, the USDA data showed.

With warm temperatures and sufficient rainfall in the majority of regions, soybean crop conditions were rated 70% good to excellent, 16 percentage points ahead of last year, the USDA said. Pockets of short-term dryness have developed in several areas of the Midwest, but most corn and soybeans have adequate soil moisture to support normal development, it added.

Soybean planting generally begins by mid-April in the US, with sowing starting in the Midwest in late April after the ground recovers from the winter freeze and wet soil.

The states where soybean planting is complete are Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, according to USDA.

The USDA surveyed 18 soybean producing states in the country, which accounted for 96% of the 2019-2020 soy acreage.

US soybean output is projected to total 112 million mt in 2020-2021, up 16% on the year assuming no severe weather disruptions, the USDA said earlier in June.