As expected, USDA raised it’s good to excellent rating on the national corn crop this week due to widespread heavy rains in many parts of the Corn Belt, but the rating only increased by one percentage point to 65 percent - which may actually support the market.
While many traders expected to see an improvement in the soybean condition rating as well, they did not get it as it remained unchanged at 59 percent good to excellent. In a bit of a surprising twist, the rating for Illinois soybeans dropped by seven points from last week while neighboring Iowa went up six points.
Cotton condition improved by four percentage points to 56 percent this week with the largest producing state, Texas, showing a six point improvement.
Grain sorghum (milo) condition ratings declined by two points down to 70 percent good to excellent. Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska all reported lower ratings compared to a week ago. However, Oklahoma condition jumped up four points and Colorado spiked by 13 points!
The national rice condition rating went down two points to 71 percent. Texas reported a huge drop of 10 percentage points in its rice crop compared to last week.
The peanut crop rating went up by four points nationwide - improving to 73 percent. The biggest boost among the top producing states came from Florida which showed a whopping improvement of 15 points.
The spring wheat rating stayed the same in the good to excellent categories at only 16 percent, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The poor to very poor categories went up from 50 percent a week ago to 55 percent this week. Most of the key producing states saw declines again in their conditions. However, Montana stood out by itself with a nine percent improvement.
The on again, off again winter wheat harvest has been going in fits and starts as harvesters dodge rain showers and thunderstorms. Harvest progress is now up to 59 percent done, but still lags the five year average of 65 percent.
Pasture conditions in the Plains varied greatly depending on which area was reporting. Texas improved by eight percentage points. New Mexico gained 10 points thanks to an early monsoon type event last week. Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska saw slight moves downward in their condition ratings. The northern Rockies states saw larger declines.
Washington state has a firm grasp on the greatest topsoil moisture deficit rating of 98 percent! Montana wasn’t far behind at 94 percent.
However, Montana got top billing on the subsoil moisture deficit table with a rating of 94 percent short to very short.
