U.S.A., Montana. Malting barley has been particularly hard hit, with some fields being harvested for feed. In the week that ended last Sunday, 75 % of Montana topsoils were rated very short of moisture up 5 percentage points from the week before. Average for the last five years, including four years of severe drought, is 31 % very short for mid-August. 20% of topsoils were rated short last week, compared with 27 % the week before, and 4 % were rated adequate, compared with 3 % the previous week.
Subsoil moisture also deteriorated. The Montana Crop-Weather Report rated 64 % of subsoil as very short, 28 % as short and 8 % as adequate last week. Only 35 % of subsoils are rated very short in the five-year average for this time of year. Spring-planted crops are wilting under continued hot weather, and more of the same can be expected, according to the Montana Agricultural Statistics Service report.