Warmer Temperatures Boost Crop Growth
While improving, crop development remains seriously delayed across much of the Midwest, as shown by the latest satellite imagery.
Arlan Suderman 
Published: Jul 5, 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 widespread development of vegetative growth across much of the country as would be expected by mid-June. Some notable exceptions include persistently wet areas of the eastern Midwest, as well as pockets of the northwestern Midwest. Dry areas of the central and southern Plains continue to see a lack of vegetative development as well.
Areas of delayed vegetative development are very apparent when compared to the average level for late June. A lack of healthy vegetation relative to normal shows up in widespread areas of the eastern and northern Midwest, largely due to planting delays and persistently saturated soils.
Unhealthy vegetative growth relative to normal is also apparent due to ongoing drought conditions in the central and southern Plains. Better than average growth can be see in the western Northern Plains, as well as in some wetter areas of the South and in the West.
Warmer temperatures helped crops utilize available moisture to improve vegetative growth dramatically over the past couple of weeks in some areas of the central and western Midwest. Some improvement was also seen in portions of the South, Northern Plains and in the West.
Overall, vegetative health, including crop development, remains well behind year ago levels across much of the Midwest, with drought still taking its toll on crop health in the central and southern Plains.
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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