USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

This article was originally published at 3:04 p.m. CDT on Monday, July 21. It was last updated with additional information at 3:52 p.m. CDT on Monday, July 21.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- The U.S. corn crop's good-to-excellent condition rating held steady again last week while soybeans' good-to-excellent rating fell slightly, according to USDA NASS's weekly Crop Progress report released on Monday.

A high-pressure ridge will bring very hot weather across much of the country this week, but good existing soil moisture and incoming rainfall from a slow-moving front should help most crop areas cope with the heat, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

CORN

-- Crop development: Corn silking was pegged at 56%, 2 percentage points behind both last year and the five-year average of 58%. Corn in the dough stage was estimated at 14%, 2 points behind last year's 16% but 2 points ahead of the five-year average of 12%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 74% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition, unchanged again from the previous week and 7 points ahead of last year's 67%. Six percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor, up 1 point from the previous week but still below 10% last year. The good-to-excellent rating for corn in Iowa was 86%, Illinois was 70% and Indiana was 60%.

SOYBEANS

-- Crop development: Soybeans blooming were pegged at 62%, 1 point behind both last year and the five-year average of 63%. Soybeans setting pods were estimated at 26%, 1 point behind last year's 27% but equal to the five-year average.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 68% of soybeans were in good-to-excellent condition, down 2 percentage points from 70% the previous week and equal to last year. Seven percent of soybeans were rated very poor to poor, up 2 percentage points from 5% the previous week but 1 percentage point below last year's 8%. Iowa soybean conditions improved to 80% good to excellent, while soybean conditions in Illinois were steady at 60% good to excellent.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Harvest progress: Harvest moved ahead another 10 percentage points last to reach 73% complete nationwide as of Sunday. That was 2 points behind last year's 75% but 1 point ahead of the five-year average pace of 72%. Kansas' winter wheat is 97% harvested, and Illinois is 98% finished. Harvest in Montana was 2% complete, with Idaho and Washington 12% and 18% complete, respectively.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Crop development: 87% of spring wheat was headed, equal to last year's pace and just 1 point behind the five-year average of 88%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 52% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition nationwide, down 2 percentage points from 54% the previous week and 25 points below last year's 77% good-to-excellent rating. Minnesota's crop was rated 87% good to excellent, North Dakota 67% good to excellent and South Dakota 70% good to excellent. Montana's spring wheat was rated just 7% good to excellent.

Scouts on the Wheat Quality Council's 2025 Spring Wheat and Durum Tour, which takes place Tuesday through Thursday this week, will get a first-hand look at the condition of this year's spring wheat crop. For more information on the tour, visit https://www.dtnpf.com/…. And watch for daily updates on the tour and final yield estimates on www.dtnpf.com.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

A high-pressure ridge will bring very hot weather across much of the country this week, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick. Good existing soil moisture and incoming rainfall from a slow-moving front should help most crop areas cope with the heat, though the southwestern Corn Belt may face more stress due to isolated rather than widespread precipitation, he said.

"Rainfall over the weekend hit some of the drier areas of the Corn Belt in northern Illinois and Indiana, and we'll have to see if that had some lasting effects," Baranick said. "But really good weather continued for another week last week. This week. we'll see some changes to the weather situation, but overall, we're still looking awfully good for most areas.

"An upper-level ridge of high pressure started to develop in the Southeast over the weekend and that will be pulsing up and down across the eastern half of the country this week, pushing into the Midwest for several days, then shifting all back to the Plains this weekend. Underneath that ridge, temperatures will be very hot, with daytime highs in the 90s for large areas of the country and some triple-digit heat being possible on a few occasions as well. If not for the overall good soil moisture in much of the country, this would be very concerning coming in late July.

"But soil moisture continues to be good, and more rain is coming. A slow-moving front will bring multiple rounds of showers, thunderstorms and possible heavy rain throughout the week, but it'll take some time to get to the Eastern Corn Belt. Still, when it does, it looks like a couple of days of rainfall chances that could help to reduce the stress from the heat. The Northern Plains look to be the winner this week with milder temperatures and almost daily rainfall chances. That should help not only corn and soybeans but also heading to flowering wheat.

"The southwestern Corn Belt, and Kansas in particular, is still forecast to see some rainfall, but showers should be more isolated and amounts focused on localized lucky areas rather than being widespread. With the heat in the area all week, that could quickly reduce soil moisture and start to stress crops.

"Another area of concern could be with some heavy rainfall and flooding near the Gulf Coast with a potential tropical system moving across the northern Gulf. A system moved through the same areas last week and never was named. We could see sort of a repeat of that later this week, too."

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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.

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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 talk@dtn.com. Please include the location of your farm.

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Silking	56	34	58	58
Corn Dough	14	7	16	12
Soybeans Blooming	62	47	63	63
Soybeans Setting Pods	26	15	27	26
Winter Wheat Harvested	73	63	75	72
Spring Wheat Headed	87	78	87	88
Cotton Squaring	71	61	79	75
Cotton Setting Bolls	33	23	40	33
Sorghum Headed	28	24	33	34
Sorghum Coloring	17	14	19	19
Oats Headed	96	92	94	95
Oats Harvested	20	12	21	20
Barley Headed	76	68	83	87
Rice Headed	46	33	56	40
Peanuts Pegging	80	70	79	77

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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	1	5	20	56	18		1	4	21	57	17		3	7	23	51	16
Soybeans	2	5	25	54	14		1	4	25	58	12		2	6	24	56	12
Spring Wheat	3	13	32	47	5		1	12	33	49	5		1	4	18	65	12
Rice	1	2	18	58	21		1	2	20	58	17		1	3	13	62	21
Oats	8	10	24	49	9		7	9	25	51	8		6	5	23	55	11
Barley	2	14	39	42	3		1	13	42	41	3		-	3	23	68	6
Cotton	6	7	30	48	9		7	10	29	45	9		7	11	29	42	11
Peanuts	-	4	27	59	10		NA	5	25	59	11		1	5	31	56	7
Sorghum	1	4	27	53	15		1	3	27	53	16		4	7	29	48	12

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

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