Stress to the crops from hot and dry conditions led to a surge in the corn, soybean and wheat markets Monday. Hoosiers haven?t experienced the hot and dry, but they have in the west. HAT chief meteorologist Ryan Martin attributes that to an upper level ridge over the middle of the country the last week and a half to two weeks. He says we?re starting to move into the zenith of the ridge holding and building over the western Corn Belt and Great Plains.
?So, we are seeing temperatures surge to above normal levels across most of the nation?s midsection, on through parts of Iowa, Missouri, and even up to the upper Midwest,? Martin says. ?Up to this point though we had actually seen some thunderstorms getting trapped underneath. We had some moisture that routinely was trying to come across Kansas and Oklahoma and up into the west and southwestern Corn Belt. Going forward here it looks like that moisture push is going away. So, in addition to the above normal temperatures we are seeing some dry down happening now between this time frame and all the way through the ten-day to 2-week period. That?s going to lead to some stress over the western Corn Belt.?
The stress did get the market moving Monday, and Martin says there could be more of the same as the hot and dry conditions head east.
?We could see some further excitement as over time we see this warm, dry push slowly expanding into the eastern Corn Belt.?
The markets also moved higher on the trade?s expectation of a decline in crop ratings from USDA Monday afternoon, and that is what the agency reported. Corn condition was downgraded 3 percentage points to 65 percent in the good to excellent categories, and soybean condition dropped 2 points to 62 percent good to excellent. Indiana soybeans are at just 50 percent good to excellent, better than only North and South Dakota. Indiana corn is rated 48 percent good to excellent, ahead of only South Dakota.
