The hot dry weather in the western corn belt continues to take its toll on row crops and that was reflected in this week’s crop ratings in South Dakota. Only 37-percent of the corn crop was rated good to excellent, a drop of 5-percent from last week. Monsanto Agronomist Keith Mockler says the corn rating is accurate based on his field assessments.

He says corn development is slightly behind normal, but that may be a good thing because otherwise the heat stress would hit during the prime pollination phase and cut yield.

South Dakota’s soybean ratings also dropped 3-percent with only 34-percent of the crop rated in good to excellent condition. However, Mockler says he’s not concerned about the beans because yield is set in August.

Soybean development is also running behind normal and there are skips in the field where the crop didn’t emerge this spring, which will cut yield.