Little Rain for Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri

While some states will benefit from some cooler weather and rain, major corn and soybean producers Iowa and Illinois will get little relief from drought conditions, and neither will Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.

Missouri's corn crop is already almost a total loss, and Indiana's isn't much better. Whether rains come in those two states in regard to corn won't have any positive impact on the yields.

Rains are predicted to move into the overall Midwest next week, but projections are only for up to one half inch at most for most areas.

The majority of Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri will probably only get at most a tenth of an inch or rain, while the states of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinois and Ohio will get from .5 to an inch of rain. Combined it generates the .5 inches of rain mentioned earlier for the Midwest.

Some parts of Iowa and northern Missouri could also get on average about .5 inches of rain over the weekend. As usual, rain will be scattered and unpredictable as to how much it will help drought-stricken regions. But overall it doesn't look good.

In other words, the states with the majority of the corn will continue to suffer drought conditions, putting even more downward pressure on corn yields.

The conservative reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture should come in with another drop in projected corn yields on Monday, and possibly more for soybeans; although some have benefited from the recent rains in the Midwest.

Most grain experts have about 20 bushels per acre less in yields projections for corn than the USDA has at this time. That should come closer to one another on Monday, depending upon whether private analysts even further downgrade expected corn yields.

In the middle of next week the Commodity Weather Group (CWG) says temperatures in the mid 90s to 100s will probably return Wednesday and into Thursday at least.

According to the CWG, other crops starting to feel the impact of the drought, besides soybeans, are rice and cotton.

Wisconsin Corn, Crop Prices for February 2012

Prices for corn and other Wisconsin crops were mixed for February, with month over month and year over year prices fluctuating.

For corn, the average price per bushel climbed to $5.97, a gain of 19 cents over January's price, and a jump of 38 cents over the price of a bushel in February 2011. However, it was less than the average price of corn per bushel in the U.S. for February, which came in at $6.16 as of the middle of the month.

The price of soybeans, on average, was at $12.50 per bushel in the middle of February, up 60 cents a bushel over January, but dropping 40 cents a bushel against the February 2011 price. It was higher than the overall U.S. soybean average of $12.30 a bushel as of the middle of February.

Oats in Wisconsin generated $3.59 a bushel, up 31 cents over January and 47 cents higher than the price in February 2011. That was a little less than the U.S. average of $3.66 a bushel for oats.

For alfalfa hay, the price as of the middle of February was $125.00 a ton, $25.00 over the price of February 2011, but about the same as January 2012.

Wisconsin Corn Damage from Sandhill Cranes Calls for Hunt

The growing number of sandhill cranes from misguided attempts to boost the population, has done just that in Wisconsin, resulting in a growing amount of corn crop damage as a consequence.

That has led to the introduction of a bill by a Wisconsin lawmaker, which would allow a hunt of the birds to thin the population and corn damage.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, it is estimated the sandhill crane is now the most abundant crane species in the world, numbering at about 600,000.

In what is called the eastern population, Wisconsin, along with Michigan, in the United States, and Ontario, Canada, to the north, are now the major nesting grounds of the prolific bird. the eastern population is estimated to be at about 70,000. Of that, Wisconsin has about 25,000 of them within its borders.

Many crane advocates want no management whatsoever, which is of course a naive and uneducated outlook. All animal populations must be carefully managed so things like the devastation of corn by the sandhill crane is kept to a minimum.

Cranes eat corn seed an young stocks. Southern Wisconsin landowners were issued 55 permits, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Now thirteen states in the U.S. have instituted crane hunts.