The planting progress figures tell a story of a spring that allowed a lot of quick progress, as both corn and soybean planting numbers are well ahead of the normal pace for this week. And while many farmers have welcomed the trend, there's another trend unfolding around the nation that could spell trouble, especially for the crops that were planted earlier than normal. A growing "heat dome" is expected to spread around the mid-South and Corn Belt in the next week, with it reappearing again during the first 10 days of next month. And, that heat will only add existing crop stress.
"In 2004, our first-planted corn was shoulder-high by the 10th of June," says Agriculture.com Marketing Talk senior contributor highyields. "Now our first-planted this year is going to have to pick it up a lot in order to get that big and we had it planted the 11th of April 2012 versus April 17, 2004."
