USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

Rain Boosts Corn, Soybean Conditions in East, While North, West Continue to Bake

Anthony Greder
By  Anthony Greder , DTN/Progressive Farmer Content Manager
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(DTN photo illustration by Nick Scalise)

This article was originally posted at 3:08 p.m. CDT on Monday, June 28. It was last updated at 4:16 p.m. CDT on Monday, June 28.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- After several weeks in a row of falling, corn and soybean conditions stabilized somewhat nationwide last week, though conditions in Northern regions of the country continued to decline, USDA NASS said in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

Nationwide, corn condition was rated 64% good to excellent as of Sunday, June 27, down just 1 percentage point from 65% the previous week. That is the 10th lowest good-to-excellent rating for corn in 12 years, only higher than in 2012 and 2019.

"Corn condition declines in South Dakota, Minnesota and Ohio slightly outweighed improvements in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

Corn silking was rated at 4%, equal to last year but slightly behind the five-year average of 6%. The most silking was reported in Texas and North Carolina.

With a wide swath of rains moving across south-central and eastern parts of the soybean belt last week, the nation's soybean crop managed to hold on to a good-to-excellent rating of 60% for the second week in a row. As with corn, that puts this year's current rating at the 10th-lowest good-to-excellent rating for soybeans in the past 12 years, Hultman said.

"Crop declines in Minnesota, South Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee and Kansas balanced out improvements in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana," Hultman said.

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NASS said 96% of soybeans were emerged and 14% of the crop was blooming as of Sunday, a little ahead of the five-year blooming average of 11%.

The crop conditions story was completely different for the spring wheat crop, as the major spring-wheat-producing states again missed out on significant rainfall last week.

After falling 10 percentage points in the June 21 report, spring wheat conditions tumbled another 7 percentage points last week, sliding from 27% good to excellent the previous week to 20% good to excellent as of Sunday, June 27. That remains the lowest rating for the crop since 1988.

"That portion of the nation's spring wheat crop rated as very poor to poor increased again to 39% -- up 2 percentage points," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini. "Minnesota spring wheat is just 29% good to excellent with 32% rated very poor to poor, North Dakota is 20% good to excellent and 44% very poor to poor, while South Dakota is only 10% good to excellent and 49% very poor to poor. Washington shows its wheat crop to be only 7% good to excellent, and a huge 70% is rated very poor to poor."

The hot, dry conditions in those parts of the country also continued to rapidly push spring wheat to maturity, with 48% of the crop heading, 9 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 39%.

Meanwhile, the winter wheat harvest continued to accelerate last week, moving ahead 16 percentage points during the week to reach 33% complete as of Sunday. That is 7 percentage points behind the five-year average of 40%.

"Kansas winter wheat is 41% harvested, down from its five-year average of 48%; Oklahoma is now 80% done, Arkansas is 87% complete and Illinois is 63% harvested -- all just slightly behind the five-year-average pace," Mantini said.

Winter wheat condition -- for the portion of the crop still in fields -- was rated 48% good to excellent, down 1 percentage point from 49% the previous week.

The following are some other highlights from this week's Crop Progress report.

Sorghum planting progressed to 95%, equal to the average pace. Sorghum headed was 19%, 3 percentage points behind average.

Cotton squaring was 32%, 2 percentage points behind average. Cotton setting bolls was 7%, near the average pace of 8%. Cotton condition was rated 52% good to excellent, unchanged from the previous week.

Rice was 8% headed, behind the average pace of 12%. Rice condition was rated 73% good to excellent, down 1 percentage points from 74% the previous week.

Oats heading was at 77%. Oats were rated 37% in good-to-excellent condition, down 2 percentage points from 39% the previous 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 Silking 4 NA 4 6
Soybeans Emerged 96 91 94 92
Soybeans Blooming 14 5 13 11
Cotton Squaring 32 21 34 34
Cotton Setting Bolls 7 4 9 8
Winter Wheat Harvested 33 17 39 40
Spring Wheat Headed 48 27 33 39
Sorghum Planted 95 88 95 95
Sorghum Headed 19 16 21 22
Oats Headed 77 63 72 71
Barley Headed 43 19 36 37
Rice Headed 8 3 13 12

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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 2 6 28 51 13 1 5 29 54 11 1 4 22 57 16
Soybeans 2 7 31 50 10 2 7 31 51 9 1 4 24 58 13
Winter Wheat 6 15 31 39 9 6 14 31 41 8 5 11 32 42 10
Spring Wheat 14 25 41 18 2 15 22 36 25 2 1 5 25 60 9
Cotton 1 6 41 43 9 1 5 42 43 9 6 18 35 35 6
Sorghum 1 3 26 57 13 1 2 24 61 12 3 11 41 41 4
Oats 6 20 37 32 5 6 18 37 34 5 2 8 29 51 10
Barley 7 18 44 23 8 8 17 36 32 7 1 3 21 55 20
Rice 1 3 23 59 14 1 3 22 59 15 1 2 23 58 16

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

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Anthony Greder

Anthony Greder
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