USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

This article was originally posted at 3:06 p.m. CDT on Monday, Sept. 12. It was last updated with additional information at 3:50 p.m. CDT on Monday, Sept. 12.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- The nation's corn harvest kicked off slightly ahead of the average pace, while corn maturity was 5 percentage points behind the average last week, showing the wide range of stages the crop is at across the country, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday, Sept. 12.

CORN

-- Crop development: In its first corn harvest report of the season, USDA NASS estimated that 5% of the crop was harvested nationwide, 2 percentage points ahead of last year's 3% and 1 percentage point ahead of the five-year average of 4%. However, the rest of the crop remaining in fields was still behind the average pace in reaching maturity. Corn in the dough stage was estimated at 95%, 1 percentage point behind the five-year average. Corn dented was estimated at 77%, 2 percentage points behind the average. Corn mature was estimated at 25%, 5 percentage points behind the five-year average of 30%.

-- Crop condition: 53% of corn was rated in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 percentage point from 54% the previous week and 5 percentage points below last year's rating of 58%. "Kansas' corn remains the worst rated, at 22% good to excellent," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.

SOYBEANS

-- Crop development: 97% of soybeans were setting pods, 1 percentage point behind the five-year average. Twenty-two percent of soybeans were dropping leaves, 6 percentage points behind the five-year average of 28%.

-- Crop condition: 56% of soybeans were rated in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 percentage point from 57% the previous week and 1 percentage point below last year's rating of 57%. "Wisconsin is the garden spot, with soybeans at 77% good to excellent, with Iowa and Illinois also well rated," Mantini said.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Planting progress: 10% of winter wheat was planted as of Sunday, Sept. 11, 1 percentage point behind last year but 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 7%. "Washington leads the way at 26% planted and is followed by Colorado and Montana at 20% and 19% planted, respectively," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Harvest progress: Spring wheat harvest moved ahead 14 percentage points last week to reach 85% complete last week. That is 4 percentage points behind the five-year average of 89%. "That's very good considering the late planting start," Hultman said. "Minnesota and North Dakota have the most work left to do, at 75% and 79% harvested, respectively."

WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

After a wet weekend for a lot of areas of the country, this week is going to be on the drier side for many folks, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"There are still some showers with a low-pressure center swirling around Lake Michigan that won't be gone until Tuesday, but dry weather does seem to be on tap for the rest of the week," Baranick said. "Temperatures will also increase as a ridge of high pressure slides to the middle of the country and parks itself there going through the rest of the week.

"However, that leads to a void across Western states. Several small disturbances will move into and through the West on the way into central Canada to avoid the ridge, bringing waves of scattered showers and thunderstorms to the Pacific Northwest and Northern Plains as well as the Canadian Prairies. The showers may disrupt maturing summer crops and delay some harvest activities but bring in some relief for drought that has been creeping in for some areas. Winter wheat growers in the PNW would probably like to see the rains after seeing very little over the last couple of months.

"But the rains are unlikely to fall in the southwestern Plains as winter wheat planting is being considered. Hot and dry conditions continue to be unfavorable for another week. There may be some showers on the northern end of the region, and that is the section of winter wheat country that is dealing with the worst drought (western Nebraska and western Kansas) but would be pretty isolated and not have much of an impact. Areas farther south that have seen some good rains in August and early September will be going largely without this week."

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Editor's Note: How are your crops looking? Are they better, worse or right on track with USDA NASS' observations this week? Send us your comments, and we'll include them in next week's Crop Progress report story. You can email comments to Anthony.greder@dtn.com or direct message him on Twitter @AGrederDTN. Please include your first and last name and the location where you farm.

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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	95	92	95	96
Corn Dented	77	63	85	79
Corn Mature	25	15	35	30
Corn Harvested	5	NA	3	4
Soybeans Setting Pods	97	94	96	98
Soybeans Dropping Leaves	22	10	35	28
Winter Wheat Planted	10	3	11	7
Cotton Bolls Opening	49	39	35	41
Cotton Harvested	8	NA	4	8
Spring Wheat Harvested	85	71	95	89
Sorghum Headed	96	92	99	99
Sorghum Coloring	74	62	82	78
Sorghum Mature	36	28	38	35
Sorghum Harvested	23	20	21	23
Oats Harvested	95	90	97	95
Barley Harvested	91	77	96	92
Rice Harvested	34	24	38	39

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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	9	11	27	41	12		8	11	27	43	11		5	10	27	44	14
Soybeans	5	10	29	45	11		5	9	29	47	10		4	10	29	45	12
Sorghum	17	29	34	19	1		17	28	34	20	1		4	10	29	47	10
Cotton	15	22	30	29	4		15	16	34	30	5		1	5	30	50	14
Rice	1	3	24	58	14		1	3	24	56	16		1	3	22	59	15

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