USDA: Winter Wheat Plantings Lagging

According to the USDA, while progress has been made, winter wheat planting are still lagging behind where they should be for this time of year.  Nationally, plantings are at 19%, which compares to the five-year-average of 30% and the 40% recorded last year.  USDA meteorologist Brian Morris said drought conditions in the Southern Plains and Southwest are taking their toll.

"California is 70% behind their five-year average, right now, they're at 19%, the five-year average is 89-percent.  And Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma are all lagging fairly significantly."

He points to Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas as states with high "very poor" to "poor" condition ratings.

"Nationally, though, it's kind of averaging out a little bit, we're at 37% "poor" to "very poor" and 33-percent at "good" to "excellent".

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