Plains, Midwest Vegetative Health Remains Disappointing
USDA reports near average crop ratings for this time of year, but satellite imagery suggests that vegetative health is below normal levels, partially due to delayed maturity.
Compiled by staff
Published: Jun 17, 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.
Satellite imagery shows rich vegetative health developing in northern areas of the Mid-Atlantic region stretching up into New England, with vegetative growth improving in the Northern Plains as well. Considerable greening of vegetation is also taking place in the Great Lakes and Pacific Northwest.
Better than normal vegetative growth is occurring in the Mid-Atlantic region into Pennsylvania, areas of the Northern Plains that have been excessively wet and in the Pacific Northwest. Previous maps have shown better than average vegetative growth in the South, but that advantage is slowly disappearing as the region dries out. Much of the Plains and southern and western Midwest continue to show poorer than average vegetative growth due to adverse weather of different kinds.
Vegetative health deteriorated over the past few weeks in the southeastern Plains and into dry areas of the South, as well as in central California. However, vegetative health improved in Illinois, Indiana, southern Ohio, South Carolina, central Nebraska and northwestern Iowa.
Vegetative health remains much worse than the previous year across much of the Plains where drought persists, with poorer conditions also seen across the heart of the Midwest. Delayed crop maturity accounts for some of the weaker vegetative health in the Midwest, relative to 2010. Much of the South is also now seeing poorer vegetative health than the previous year as drought stress returns. Meanwhile, improved rainfall this year has led to better vegetative health in the Northeast, northwestern Midwest and areas of the western Northern Plains as compared to the previous year.
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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