USDA issued the crop progress report yesterday, but interpreting any meaning from it is almost impossible under current conditions because the baseline of intended planting has changed. Consider, 1 March planting intentions had indicated there would be 92.8 million acres of corn this year. That represents 104 percent of last year and the largest acreage since 2016. Yesterday’s report, which surveyed the 9-16 June planting activity, showed 92 percent of the acres had been planted overall (in the top 18 states), up 11 percent for the week. Big gains were made in states that were the furthest behind, but there is more to the story. These were also the states where the crop insurance planting date had elapsed.
Indeed, the reason those...
A pika (/ˈpaɪkə, ˈpiːkə/ PY-kə, PEE-kə[3][4]) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal native to Asia and North America. With short limbs, a very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative the rabbit, but with short, rounded ears.[5] The large-eared pi...
Lobelia (/loʊˈbiːliə, lə-/[4][5][6]) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae comprising 415 species,[7] with a subcosmopolitan distribution primarily in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world, a few species extending into cooler temperate regions.[8] They are known g...
The Olympic marmot (Marmota olympus) is a rodent in the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It occurs only in the U.S. state of Washington, at the middle elevations of the Olympic Peninsula. The closest relatives of this species are the hoary marmot and the Vancouver Island marmot. In 2009, it was decl...
