National corn condition ratings improved by four percentage points in the good to excellent categories, lifting the rating to 55 percent. In the critically important I-80 Corridor, Nebraska scored a BIG gain in its crop rating, seeing it rise by 13 points since last week thanks to scattered rainfall, but also abundant irrigation. I’m hearing about a lot of dryland corn acres in Nebraska, though, that are going to make very little or no crop wherever they have missed the bulk of the rains. Ohio improved by five points and Illinois gained three. However, it should be noted that Illinois still reports only 39 percent of its acres rating good to excellent.
The national soybean condition rating regained the point that it lost a week ago, so it is back to 51 percent in the good to excellent categories. Here again, in the I-80 Corridor, Nebraska reported a dramatic improvement of 12 points compared to a week ago. Illinois gained six points, but still languishes with a 36 percent rating. Outside the Corridor, it was unusual that South Dakota picked up five points, but neighboring North Dakota declined by six points.
Cotton condition ratings nationwide held steady at 48 percent good to excellent. Of the top five producing states, Mississippi was the big mover, going up by nine points. North Carolina gained five points this week. On the other hand, Texas and Alabama both dropped by a single point.
The national grain sorghum condition rating remained unchanged from last week with a good to excellent rating of 55 percent. Nebraska had the biggest improvement in the Plains states with a gain of 14 points which pushes its rating up to 67 percent. However, Colorado slipped by nine points last week. Even with this week’s decline, Colorado still has the best rating of any of the Plains states with 82 percent.
Spring wheat condition nationally dropped by one point to land at 47 percent good to excellent. Montana reported the largest change with a drop of eight percentage points. Meanwhile, South Dakota reported a three percent increase in its rating.
Don’t forget! Winter wheat harvest is still underway and has only reached 46 percent completion nationally. That still trails the five-year average by 13 points. Texas and Oklahoma are basically done since they both report well over 90 percent in the bin. However, Kansas is WAY behind with only 59 percent harvested when they should have 84 percent completed by now. Nebraska also lags with only 12 percent of its acres harvested while its average pace would be 25 percent.
Pasture conditions in the central and southern Plains all improved significantly from last week (with the exception of the High Plains in Colorado). South Dakota saw a 13-point improvement from a week ago while Nebraska went up by 12 points. In the Rockies states, Montana declined by eight points and Colorado went down by six. In the Southwest, New Mexico saw a much needed 18-point improvement.
In the topsoil moisture deficit report (generally considered to measure the top four inches of soil representing the seed planting and sprouting zone), we had a big shuffling of the deck. Oregon saw its short to very short moisture rating expand by seven points, placing it in a tie with Missouri for the driest states with 73 percent of their acres in moisture deficit conditions. Other notable moves were made by Washington state seeing its deficit rating five points worse than last week. Meanwhile, Texas and New Mexico both saw their ratings improve by eight points.
In the subsoil moisture deficit report (considered to measure deep soil moisture down to a few feet where the crop roots would extend downward), Missouri hangs on to the top spot even though it did report a five-point improvement in its rating since last week. Oregon’s moisture availability declined by eight points and Washington state saw another five points placed in the short to very short categories. Nebraska saw a seven-point rebound in its moisture availability.
USDA Crop Progress 230710.pdf
