Rains came to parts of southern Colorado helping green some pastures but leaving some alfalfa worse off.

Bill Meyer, Director of the Mountain Region Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, tells Colorado Ag Today more rain is needed across most of the state.

MEYER: Drought is ongoing. We only had 23% of the acreage rated good, 1% excellent compared to the 5 year average of 48% good and 9% excellent. Barley producers have just started their harvest with 2% of their acreage harvested compared to 8% on average. Corn, 16% is in the dough state compared to 6% on average. Dry beans are 61% blooming compared to 61% on average and our Sorghum 26% of the crop is headed compared to 38% on average.

The details of the weekly crop progress and condition report are found at USDA-NASS.

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows 83.7 percent of the state is experiencing moderate drought or worse conditions (D1-D4). Thats an increase from 74.0 percent the previous week. The area experiencing extreme drought or worse conditions (D3-D4) is at 26.6 percent, a decrease from 31.8 percent previous week.

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Crop Progress - AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST - AGInfo Ag Information Network Of The West