USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

This article was originally posted at 3:08 p.m. CDT on Monday, Aug. 24. It was last updated at 3:50 p.m. CDT on Monday, Aug. 24.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- The U.S. corn crop's good-to-excellent rating fell last week due to significant rating declines for several major corn-producing states, USDA NASS said in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

NASS estimated that 64% of the nation's corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, Aug. 23, down 5 percentage points from 69% and now the fifth-highest good-to-excellent rating in the past 10 years.

"Good-to-excellent ratings in Michigan fell 11 points, Iowa was down 9 points, Nebraska was down 7 points and South Dakota was down 6," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

Meanwhile, corn development stages remained roughly in line with five-year averages. Eighty-eight percent of corn was in the dough stage as of Sunday, 6 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 82%, and 44% of the crop was dented, 5 percentage points ahead of the average of 39%. Corn mature was estimated at 5%, ahead of 2% at the same time last year but equal to the five-year average.

Like corn, soybean conditions also declined again last week. NASS estimated that 69% of the nation's soybean crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Aug. 23, down 3 percentage points from 72% the previous week but still the third-highest rating in at least 10 years.

"Good-to-excellent ratings in Michigan and South Dakota were down 10 points each, Iowa was down 6 points and Nebraska was down 5 points," Hultman said.

Soybean development was also running at a near-normal pace. Soybeans setting pods was estimated at 92%, 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 87%. Soybeans dropping leaves was estimated at 4%, equal to the five-year average.

Winter wheat harvest moved ahead another 4 percentage points last week to reach 97% complete as of Sunday, just 1 percentage point behind the average pace of 98%.

"Montana and Washington are 82% done compared to the average of 90%-91%, while Idaho is 83% complete, just below the average of 88%," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.

Spring wheat harvest jumped ahead 19 percentage points to reach 49% complete as of Sunday. That was well ahead of 32% at the same time last year but still 13 percentage points behind the five-year average of 62%.

"Spring wheat harvest progress in North Dakota is the slowest, at 39% harvested versus a five-year average of 59%, and Minnesota is now 54% done compared to the average of 69%," Mantini said.

USDA estimated that 71% of the spring wheat crop still in fields was in good-to-excellent condition, up 1 percentage point from the previous week. There was a gain of 1 percentage point in the excellent category to 13%.

"Sixty-three percent of the spring wheat crop in North Dakota is rated good to excellent, down 2 percentage points from last week," Mantini said. "Minnesota is still highly rated at 77% good to excellent."

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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	88	76	66	82
Corn Dented	44	23	24	39
Corn Mature	5	NA	2	5
Soybeans Setting Pods	92	84	76	87
Soybeans Dropping Leaves	4	NA	2	4
Winter Wheat Harvested	97	93	95	98
Spring Wheat Harvested	49	30	32	62
Cotton Setting Bolls	88	80	89	89
Cotton Bolls Opening	22	15	27	19
Sorghum Headed	91	83	83	88
Sorghum Coloring	47	34	38	47
Sorghum Mature	21	NA	22	26
Oats Harvested	85	74	71	84
Barley Harvested	55	34	47	72
Rice Headed	93	86	94	96
Rice Harvested	17	13	14	17

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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	4	8	24	49	15	3	7	21	52	17	3	10	30	47	10
Soybean	2	6	23	55	14	2	5	21	56	16	3	10	32	46	9
Spring Wheat	2	4	23	58	13	2	4	24	58	12	1	5	25	60	9
Cotton	12	13	29	37	9	7	15	33	35	10	2	15	40	35	8
Rice	1	3	20	58	18	1	3	20	59	17	1	5	25	48	21
Sorghum	5	11	30	43	11	5	9	29	45	12	1	6	27	51	15
Barley	1	3	16	58	22	1	3	19	59	18	1	4	19	61	15

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