U.S. corn crop off to slow start


While seasonally warm weather in April got planting progress off to a good start across the U.S., things have slowed down a bit in terms of crop development due to a general lack of sunshine and warmth.

Farmers and analysts have discussed seeing fields across the Midwest that look shorter than normal and a little discolored, with most agronomists pointing toward cooler temperatures as the main reason for this.

Looking at data from Iowa State University (ISU), most of the states in the Corn Belt, including all three of the I-states (Illinois, Iowa and Indiana), saw temperatures during May that ranked in the lower half of the last 133 years in terms of daily average temperatures.

Abundant precipitation in some places...