USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

This article was originally posted at 3:06 p.m. CDT on Monday, Aug. 17. It was last updated at 4:10 p.m. CDT on Monday, Aug. 17.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- A 10-percentage-point decline in the Iowa corn crop's good-to-excellent condition rating following last Monday's derecho contributed to a 2-point drop in the national corn condition rating last week, USDA NASS said in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

NASS estimated that 69% of the nation's corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, Aug. 16, down 2 percentage points from 71%, though still tied for the fourth-highest rating in 10 years. The drop came as little surprise following widespread damage to Iowa's corn crop caused by winds that topped 100 miles per hour in parts of the state last week. The damage resulted in a 10-percentage-point drop in Iowa corn's good-to-excellent rating to 59%.

"Nebraska corn's good-to-excellent rating also fell, by 5 percentage points," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini. "Meanwhile, Minnesota's and Wisconsin's crops remained highly rated, at 83% and 84% good to excellent, respectively. Wisconsin's good-to-excellent rating rose 3 points from the previous week."

Despite the weather-related problems, the nation's corn crop overall continued to mature at a near-normal rate. Seventy-six percent of corn was in the dough stage as of Sunday, 7 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 69%, while 23% of corn was dented, near the average of 24%.

Like corn, soybean conditions also fell last week. NASS estimated that 72% of the nation's soybean crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Aug. 16, down 2 percentage points from 74% the previous week but still tied for the third-highest rating in at least 10 years.

"Iowa soybeans' good-to-excellent rating fell by 8 percentage points to 62%, with the very-poor-to-poor category increasing by 5 points to 12%," Hultman said.

Soybeans blooming was estimated at 96%, 2 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 94%. The portion of the crop setting pods was estimated at 84%, 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 79%.

Winter wheat harvest moved ahead another 3 percentage points last week to reach 93% complete as of Sunday. That remained 3 percentage points behind the five-year average of 96%.

"Montana and Idaho both have 40% of their winter wheat crops left to harvest with a dry forecast for the week ahead," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

Meanwhile, spring wheat harvest moved ahead 15 percentage points to reach 30% complete as of Sunday. That was ahead of 14% at the same time last year but 13 percentage points behind the five-year average of 43%.

"Spring wheat harvest progress in North Dakota is the slowest, at 19% harvested versus a five-year average of 39% for this time of year," Hultman said.

"USDA said 70% of spring wheat crops are rated good to excellent, roughly as expected and up 1 percentage point from last week," Hultman said. "Sixty-five percent of the spring wheat crop in North Dakota is rated good to excellent, up 2 percentage points from last week."

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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 Dough	76	59	50	69
Corn Dented	23	11	13	24
Soybeans Blooming	96	92	88	94
Soybeans Setting Pods	84	75	64	79
Winter Wheat Harvested	93	90	92	96
Spring Wheat Harvested	30	15	14	43
Cotton Setting Bolls	80	71	83	82
Cotton Bolls Opening	15	9	23	14
Sorghum Headed	83	70	71	80
Sorghum Coloring	34	27	30	38
Oats Harvested	74	65	57	73
Barley Harvested	34	16	26	53
Rice Headed	86	75	85	91
Rice Harvested	13	10	9	13

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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
Corn	3	7	21	52	17	2	6	21	53	18	3	11	30	46	10
Soybean	2	5	21	56	16	1	4	21	57	17	4	10	33	44	9
Spring Wheat	2	4	24	58	12	2	5	24	57	12	1	6	23	58	12
Cotton	7	15	33	35	10	6	17	35	33	9	2	13	36	41	8
Rice	1	3	20	59	17	1	2	21	57	19	1	5	26	46	22
Sorghum	5	9	29	45	12	3	9	30	45	13	1	6	28	52	13
Barley	1	3	19	59	18	1	3	17	59	20	2	5	20	58	15

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