Kansas, the country’s biggest hard-red winter wheat producer, is still very dry. USDA data says topsoil moisture in the state was little changed from January 1 through the end of November 2022.
About 43 percent of the state was very short on topsoil moisture and 26 percent was listed short on January 1.
Twenty-nine percent of the state had adequate topsoil moisture and only two percent had a surplus.
That compares with 48 percent very short, 25 percent short, 26 percent adequate, and just one percent held surplus moisture on November 29, the last time the government issued a crop progress report.
Oklahoma, the country’s number two HRW producer, only saw .16 inches of rainfall in the panhandle during December. Topsoil and subsoil moisture was listed as “mostly adequate to short.”
Arkansas, one of the country’s key soft-red winter wheat growers, saw moisture conditions improve with 60 percent surplus topsoil moisture.