Nebraska

Some 55.3 million acres of U.S. farmland are irrigated, says the Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey, drawn from USDA's 2012 Census of Agriculture.

Class-action lawsuits asking $1 billion in damages from seed company Syngenta were filed in federal court Iowa, Illinois and and Nebraska.

Crop scouts reported strong potential corn yields in southwestern Iowa and the northern half of Illinois as the annual Pro Farmer crop tour headed toward release today of an estimate of the U.S. corn and soybean crops.

Ag consultancy Doane says the first day of its crop tour found corn and soybeans in outstanding condition in western Illinois and eastern Iowa. "We believe it's the strongest corn crop we have observed in our long history of this crop tour," says its report. Doane says corn yields in western Illinois could be 10 bushels an acre higher than last year.

Beneficial rains moistened the western Corn Belt, particularly Nebraska and western Iowa, said the Drought Monitor, which says 38 percent of the contiguous 48 states are in drought vs 40 percent a week ago.

Slowed by a cold and wet spring, farmers have planted 29 pct of corn land in the 18 major states, 13 points behind the five-year average of 42 pct planted by the first week of May, says the weekly Crop Progress report. A week ago, planting, at 19 pct, was 9 points behind average. If corn is planted after May 20, yields are lower.

Kansas, often the No 1 wheat state in the nation, will reap its smallest harvest since 1996 due to drought and freeze damage, scouts estimated at the end of the annual wheat tour. The crop was pegged at 260.7 mln bu with an avg yield of 33.2 bu/ac, said Bloomberg, compared to 319.2 mln bu last year with a statewide yield of 38.0 bu/ac. "Output...would be the lowest since 255.2 mln (bu) in 1996." Analysts had expected a crop of 299 mln bu.

The 2014 farm law ended the direct-payment subsidy and made crop insurance the major farm support. For most states, there is little difference in the state's share of the receipts.