USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

This article was originally posted at 3:03 p.m. CDT on Monday, May 17. It was last updated at 3:55 p.m. CDT on Monday, May 17.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- U.S. soybean planting continued at its fastest pace in over 12 years last week thanks to mostly favorable weather, according to USDA NASS' weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

NASS estimated that 61% of the crop was planted as of Sunday, May, 16, 10 percentage points ahead of 51% last year at the same time and a whopping 24 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 37%. Planting continued to push further ahead of average than the previous week when planting progress was running 20 percentage points ahead of average.

"Minnesota soybeans are 88% planted, Iowa is at 83% and Illinois is 71% planted," noted DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

Twenty percent of planted soybeans had emerged, 8 percentage points ahead of the average of 12%.

Corn planting also remained well ahead of average last week, though progress slowed last week. Planting moved ahead another 13 percentage points last week compared to a 21-percentage-point jump the previous week and a 29-percentage-point leap the week before that. NASS estimated that 80% of intended corn acres were planted as of Sunday. That puts this year's planting pace 12 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 68%, slightly closer to average than the previous week when planting was running 15 percentage points ahead of the five-year average. This year's pace is just 2 percentage points ahead of 78% at the same time last year.

"Minnesota corn was 95% planted, Iowa was at 94% and Illinois was at 86%," Hultman said. "Ohio lagged behind at 39% planted."

Meanwhile, corn emergence moved further ahead of normal, at 41% as of Sunday, 6 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 35%. Current emergence is near last year's pace of 40%.

Development of winter wheat, on the other hand, continued to trail the average pace. Winter wheat heading was estimated at 53% as of Sunday, 5 percentage points behind the average of 58% but just 1 percentage point behind last year's 54%.

Winter wheat condition continued its up-and-down pattern, falling 1 percentage point last week to 48% good to excellent after rising 1 percentage point the previous week. The current condition of the crop is still below last year's rating of 52% good to excellent.

"States with the lowest winter wheat ratings include Oregon at 20% good to excellent, Texas at 25%, South Dakota at 32% and Colorado at 32%," Hultman said. "The largest winter wheat-producing state, Kansas, has a good-to-excellent crop rating of 54%, up 1 percentage point from a week ago."

Spring wheat planting remained well ahead of normal last week, at 85% complete as of Sunday, 14 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 71%. Spring wheat emerged was estimated at 47%, 11 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 36%.

"With USDA rating 81% of North Dakota topsoil moisture at less than adequate, this crop needs rain, and moderate amounts are in the forecast this week," Hultman said. "Montana still has 29% of the crop left to plant, but that is in line with the five-year pace."

Sorghum was 27% planted, 5 percentage points behind average. Cotton planting was 38% complete, 2 percentage points behind the five-year average. Rice was 87% planted, and 63% of the crop had emerged. Rice condition was rated 74% good to excellent, up from last year's rating of 63% good to excellent.

Oats were 92% planted as of Sunday, and emergence was at 73%, both ahead of average. Oats were rated 49% in good-to-excellent condition.

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To view weekly crop progress reports issued by National Ag Statistics Service offices in individual states, visit http://www.nass.usda.gov/…. Look for the U.S. map in the "Find Data and Reports by" section and choose the state you wish to view in the drop-down menu. Then look for that state's "Crop Progress & Condition" report.

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Planted	80	67	78	68
Corn Emerged	41	20	40	35
Soybeans Planted	61	42	51	37
Soybeans Emerged	20	10	16	12
Cotton Planted	38	25	42	40
Winter Wheat Headed	53	38	54	58
Spring Wheat Planted	85	70	57	71
Spring Wheat Emerged	47	29	28	36
Sorghum Planted	27	22	31	32
Oats Planted	92	85	85	84
Oats Emerged	73	60	67	66
Barley Planted	83	71	70	76
Barley Emerged	50	32	41	44
Rice Planted	87	74	79	81
Rice Emerged	63	52	55	64

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National Crop Condition Summary
(VP=Very Poor; P=Poor; F=Fair; G=Good; E=Excellent)
	This Week						Last Week						Last Year
	VP	P	F	G	E		VP	P	F	G	E		VP	P	F	G	E
Winter Wheat	6	13	33	41	7		5	13	33	42	7		5	11	32	44	8
Oats	4	11	36	44	5		4	12	37	42	5		1	2	22	65	10
Rice	-	2	24	54	20		NA	NA	NA	NA	NA		1	2	34	53	10

Anthony Greder can be reached at anthony.greder@dtn.com

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