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Soil moisture supplies continue to drop in the eastern Corn Belt and the dry region is not expected to see enough rainfall this week to reverse that situation, while much of the western Corn Belt will continue to see beneficial rains.

"It continues to look favorable for the western Belt with adequate soil moisture for corn and beans and still stressful for corn and soybeans in the eastern Midwest where rainfall continues to be inadequate to recharge topsoil moisture," forecaster Mike Palmerino with DTN Meteorlogix told Reuters News Service Monday morning.

Hot, dry weekend weather sapped moisture from eastern Corn Belt soils and only limited relief is expected over the next few days. Forecasters see light showers of 0.10-0.50 in., locally heavier, late Monday into Tuesday with the remainder of the week mostly dry until scattered showers develop on Saturday.

The weather forecasting models were in good agreement for the next seven days but varied in the eight- to 10-day period, Palmerino said.

The U.S. model was warmer than the European forecasting model, showing more of a ridging pattern to develop. But both called for limited rainfall in the six- to 10-day period for the eastern Midwest, Palmerino said.

Meteorlogix's 6- to 10-day forecast, Saturday through Wednesday, called for temperatures to average near to above normal and rainfall near to above normal in the northwest and near to below normal in the south and east.

Editor’s note: Richard Brock, The Corn And Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.

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