New Vegetative Maps Offer Insight into Crop Conditions
Satellite imagery provides clues to changing crop health, usually before it shows up on USDA data. Check out the latest maps.
Compiled by staff
Published: May 12, 2011
Farm Futures has partnered with the Ecology and Agriculture Spatial Analysis Laboratory (EASAL) at Kansas State University to bring these maps to you. Each map is composed from satellite data taken over a two-week period. The EASAL maps show current vegetative health for the past two weeks and compare vegetative health with the previous two-week period, with the previous year and with the long-term average. Green reflects healthy vegetative development, while brown reflects a lack of healthy vegetative biomass production.
This graphic shows seasonal greening across much of the South and up the Eastern Seaboard and along the West Coast, with modest vegetative growth in the central Plains. However, cool temperatures continue to limit fresh vegetative growth in northern areas of the country, while drought in the western Plains keeps growth limited.
Drought continues to hamper vegetative growth in the Central and Southern Plains, relative to average. Adverse conditions have also slowed growth in the Upper Mississippi River Valley and Northern Plains. Meanwhile, much of the West, Delta, Southeast and East Coast are seeing better than average growth.
The past two weeks saw dramatically better vegetative health in the Inter-Mountain West, southern Minnesota, Missouri and much of the East as weather conditions began to moderate.
Areas of the Inter-Mountain West, New York and much of the Southeast are seeing better vegetative health than at this time last year, but drought has definitely hindered vegetative growth in the Plains, while cool wet conditions slowed growth in much of the Midwest, relative to a year ago.
This graphic shows the average vegetative health for this time of year.
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Tagged: Drought, farm, farm futures, biomass production
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