crop progress and conditions

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

It’s been said, “April showers bring forth May flowers.”  For USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and others involved in farming, April also brings forth the start of each year’s planting season for many key U.S. crops and the weekly Crop Progress report series.

With the help of about 4,000 reporters, including extension agents, Farm Service Agency staff, and others whose jobs involve frequent visual observations of farms and interaction with growers, NASS tracks and reports on planting, maturity, and harvest of major crops, such as corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton.

Of the many factors that make farming risky, weather is particularly important. With this year’s unseasonably warm March, some farmers are taking a risk they hope pays off in a big way. Despite the peril of a spring frost, many farmers are planting corn almost a month earlier than the usual mid-April planting dates.

As they wait to see what happens with the weather, these farmers, along with analysts, policymakers and others interested in U.S. agriculture, will pay close attention to the Crop Progress report issued weekly by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).