In general, crop condition was average in the North American MPZ during the July to October monitoring period of 2016, which covered flowering,heading, filling and the harvest of summer crops (maize, soybean, paddy,sorghum and spring wheat).

Overall, CropWatch agroclimatic indicators show favorable or normal weather conditions: rainfall was 24% above average, temperature was 0.1°C above averageand radiation was average. Biomass shows a 20% positive departure compared to last five years average. However, the fraction of cropped arable land (CALF)was 3% below average and large uncropped arable land areas occurred in the major production zones of Canada and the northern spring wheat zones of the United States. A low CALF rate was paralleled by a 2% drop of cropp ingintensity and below average VCIx (0.5).

Abundant precipitation fell in the period from mid-August tomid-September in the Corn Belt, including Iowa (+43%), Illinois (+5%),Minnesota (+43%), Nebraska (+88%) and Missouri (+77%), which benefited thegrowth of maize and soybean in these states. After mid-September, rainfall declined to below average values, which had little influence on crops that hadreached maturity and were harvested. In the rice production zones, below average rainfall continued from late-July onwards, and paddy yield decreaseddue to water deficit at the heading and grain filling stages.

After August, the major crop production zones of Canada recorded average rainfall and above average temperatures. However, this was insufficient toreplenish soil moisture after the serious drought that happened during theprevious monitoring period. This data is correlated in figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2. North America MPZ:Agroclimatic and agronomic indicators, July-October 2015