As of late May, U.S. peanut farmers were wrapping up the 2016 planting season with about 80 percent of the seed in the ground. In the Southwest, Oklahoma peanut farmers have 72 percent of the crop planted, up from 65 percent the previous week, down from 78 percent a year ago and a 78 percent five-year average.
Oklahoma soil moisture was rated mostly adequate (73 percent), with only 4 percent very short, 17 percent short and 6 percent surplus.
Texas farmers had 78 percent of the crop planted by late May, compared with only 50 percent planted the week before, 63 percent last year and a 76 percent five-year average. Moisture was mixed with 44 percent considered adequate, 13 percent surplus, 34 percent sort and 9 percent very short.
Some areas of the Southwest had weather issues—rain, severe thunderstorm and high temperatures (into the 90s) in Oklahoma, and some significant hail damage in the Southern High Plains in Texas.
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Georgia growers had seeded 85 percent of the crop by late May; Florida growers had planted 87 percent of their peanuts; Alabama had 71 percent planted. Other progress includes: North Carolina, 71 percent; South Carolina, 76 percent; and Virginia, 54 percent. Virginia growers have been hampered by persistent rainfall.
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