UNITED STATES (17 February)
Predominantly dry weather in the main winter wheat growing areas since last October is leading to increased concern over the prospects for this year’s harvest. Worst hit is the northern part of the Great Plains where soil moisture conditions are reported to be worse than last year’s already below-normal levels. Elsewhere, in the central and southern plains, crop conditions throughout the winter have remained much better than those a year ago after a beneficial rainfall at the start of the season, but the accumulated dryness since then could start to show an impact as crops break dormancy in the spring and need moisture for development. According to the USDA Seeding Report in January, the winter wheat area for the 2003 harvest has increased by 6 percent from the previous year to 17.9 million hectares, the largest area since 1998. The increase is mostly attributed to higher wheat prices during the peak planting time last August. The level of spring wheat and coarse grain sowings, which start from March in some states, will depend greatly on the amount of rainfall in the coming few weeks.