The weather has been on a rollercoaster ride across the state but July ended up feeling more like fall than the middle of summer. Rain was scarce again, and with that comes reports of crop conditions beginning to deteriorate.

The latest crop information from the NASS Kentucky field office listed the state’s corn as being 11 percent poor, 23 percent fair, 50 percent good and 12 percent excellent. Many cornfields are beginning to show signs of stress. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows more of the state (over 19 percent) moving into a Moderate Drought stage.

Soybeans are facing the same decline in plant condition. As of the Aug. 4 NASS report, they were listed as 9 percent poor, 27 percent fair, 50 percent good and 11 percent excellent. The report stated specifically: "Some fields of double-crop soybeans are showing severe stand problems and in some instances have yet to germinate due to a lack of moisture."

This comes in a year when state producers planted more soybeans than last year’s record crop.

Kentucky tobacco, normally a dry-weather crop, could also use a bit of water, but it remains in good shape for the most part. The condition of the crop was listed as 4 percent poor, 25 percent fair, 55 percent good and 14 percent excellent.

Pasture conditions aren’t doing quite as well. The NASS report denoted pasture conditions to 15 percent poor, 36 percent fair, 38 percent good and only 4 percent excellent. The bright spot on the report shows livestock conditions to be 22 percent fair, 63 percent good and 10 percent excellent.

Livestock producers are starting to feed hay, which could mean a shortage this winter. Right now, hay and roughage supplies were reported as 4 percent very short, 26 percent short, 63 percent adequate and 7 percent surplus, according to NASS.