USDA – Illinois State Climatologist

November 12, 2015

USDA Project Releases Corn Split Nitrogen Application Decision Tool

The USDA-funded Useful to Usable (U2U) project has released their split Nitrogen application decision tool for corn across the Corn Belt. The Corn Split N tool combines historical weather and fieldwork data with economic considerations to determine the feasibility and profitability of completing a second (split) N application within a user-specified time period. Check it out at www.agclimate4u.org under the “decision support tools”.

Screen shot with default values for Champaign County, Illinois

The user guide can be found here.

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March 31, 2015

USDA Soil Moisture Report for Illinois

Yesterday, the USDA released their report on soil moisture conditions for Illinois. Overall the state looks moist, especially in southern Illinois after weeks of rain. Statewide, 95 percent of the topsoil moisture and 93 percent of the subsoil moisture is rated as either “adequate” or “surplus”.

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July 26, 2012

Latest Analysis on the Impacts of Drought on U.S. Agriculture

The USDA has produced some interesting slides for the World Agricultural Outlook Board, showing the current drought overlaid on production areas. The first two are about the U.S. corn production areas, then the soybean areas, and finally the cattle areas. Each pair of slides shows a map of the overlay, and a time series of the area affected by drought.
By July 24, about 89 percent of the corn production area was in drought. That percentage has been climbing steadily since early June. It’s the same story with 88 percent of the soybean production area and 73 percent of the cattle production area in drought.