USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

Crop Progress: Corn and Soybean Planting Falls Further Behind the Average Pace in Week Ended May 1

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 3:03 p.m. CDT on Monday, May 2. It was last updated at 4:01 p.m. CDT on Monday, May 2.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- Corn and soybean planting progress fell further behind the five-average pace last week as continued cool and wet conditions kept farmers out of their fields across large portions of the Eastern Corn Belt, Upper Midwest and Northern Plains, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday. And more precipitation in the DTN weather forecast for already-wet areas of the country this coming week could spell even more planting delays.

CORN

-- Planting progress: 14% nationwide as of Sunday, May 1 -- double the previous week's 7%. Current progress is now 28 percentage points behind last year's pace of 42% and 19 percentage points behind the five-year average of 33%.

-- Crop development: 3% of corn was emerged as of Sunday, up just 1 percentage point from the previous week and 3 percentage points behind the five-year average of 6%.

-- Notable states: The "I" states all are significantly behind their average planting pace. Illinois corn is only 7% planted, 36 percentage points behind the state's five-year average of 43%; Indiana corn is 6% planted, 19 percentage points behind the average of 25%; and Iowa is 9% planted, 33 percentage points behind its average of 42%. Nebraska's corn crop is 28% planted, 6 percentage points behind its five-year average of 34%. No corn has been planted in Minnesota compared to 54% of the crop that was planted by this time last year and the state's five-year average of 28%.

SOYBEANS

-- Planting progress: 8% nationwide as of Sunday, up 5 percentage points from the previous week. That is 14 percentage points behind last year's 22% and 5 percentage points behind the five-year average of 13%.

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-- Notable states: As with corn, the "I" states were also behind in soybean planting. Illinois soybeans were 5% planted, 14 percentage points behind the state's average of 19%; Indiana was 3% planted, 10 percentage points behind the average of 13%; and Iowa was 4% planted, 13 percentage points behind the average of 17%. Kansas and Nebraska were both ahead of their averages for soybean planting. Eleven percent of Kansas' soybean crop was planted, 6 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 5%; and 19% of Nebraska's soybeans were planted, 5 percentage points ahead of the average of 14%.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Crop development progress: 23% of the winter wheat crop was headed nationwide as of Sunday. That's 3 percentage points behind last year's 26% and 6 percentage points behind the five-year average of 29%.

-- Notable states: Kansas' winter wheat was 10% headed as of Sunday, 7 percentage points behind the average of 17%. Oklahoma's crop was 42% headed, 18 percentage points behind the five-year average of 60%. Texas' winter wheat was 66% headed, 6 percentage points behind the average of 72%.

-- Crop condition: Nationwide, winter wheat was rated 27% good to excellent, unchanged from the previous week. The percentage of the crop rated very poor to poor increased 4 percentage points from 39% the previous week to 43% as of Sunday.

"The winter wheat crop's current good-to-excellent rating is the lowest for this time of year since a 23% rating was posted in 1989," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. "The largest winter wheat producer, Kansas, showed a good-to-excellent rating of 25%, the lowest for any time of year since the fall of 2018."

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

The DTN forecast for this week suggests farmers across much of the country will continue to wait to get into fields, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

A storm system that developed widespread precipitation from Nebraska into Arkansas on Monday, May 2, will continue to expand and produce rainfall as it moves northeast through the Midwest through Tuesday, May 3, Baranick said. Severe weather is expected to occur across Oklahoma and southeast Kansas on May 2, with the severe threat along the Ohio River for May 3.

"But that is not the only system of the week," Baranick said. "Another system moving into the Pacific Northwest on May 2 will follow a similar path as the first one this week, albeit a bit slower. Showers and thunderstorms will again develop across the Central and Southern Plains Wednesday, May 4, then move through the Midwest May 5-7. More moderate to heavy rain is expected, along with bouts of more severe weather.

"Both systems will also bring some occasional rains to the Delta and Southeast.

"All-in-all, precipitation will be heavy and widespread enough to keep producers out of their fields with only limited areas lucking out and being able to get some work done," he said.

For more on this week's weather outlook, see "Ag Weather Forum: Planting Weather is a Challenge Across US This Week" here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

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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 14 7 42 33
Corn Emerged 3 2 7 6
Soybeans Planted 8 3 22 13
Cotton Planted 16 12 15 15
Winter Wheat Headed 23 11 26 29
Spring Wheat Planted 19 13 46 28
Spring Wheat Emerged 5 2 13 7
Sorghum Planted 20 19 20 23
Oats Planted 45 39 70 58
Oats Emerged 31 27 46 40
Barley Planted 36 24 50 37
Barley Emerged 10 3 16 12
Rice Planted 45 26 62 56
Rice Emerged 24 19 36 38
Sugarbeets Planted 18 11 76 47

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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 22 21 30 24 3 20 19 34 24 3 6 13 33 42 6

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

Follow him on Twitter @AGrederDTN

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Anthony Greder

Anthony Greder
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