In this week’s Crop Progress & Condition report, cotton planting added 10 percentage points to end up at 81 percent completion which is still five points behind the five-year average. Most of the major producing states are about finished, but the largest producer - Texas - remains behind schedule with only 72 percent planted as of Sunday versus its average of 82 percent.
Grain sorghum planting across the nation made good progress to reach the 64 percent level, four points behind where it normally would be. The only Plains state that appears to show any major delays is Colorado which is 14 points behind schedule at only 46 percent.
As expected, corn condition nationwide went down by three points to land at 61 percent in the combined good to excellent categories reflecting the decline in the crop in many areas due to droughty conditions. Rain likely helped the crop in many locations over the weekend, but any crop improvement won’t be realized until next week’s survey. While ALL Plains and Midwest states saw declines in condition, it was especially notable in the eastern portion of the critical I-80 Corridor where Indiana and Ohio both reported seven point declines.
Soybean condition ratings also hit the skids in most key growing areas of the Midwest and Plains as the national good to excellent rating dipped by three percentage points down to 59 percent. In the I-80 Corridor, Ohio again shows how fast its crop can deteriorate as it lost 10 points. One fact that does stand out somewhat is that less than half of the Illinois crop made the good to excellent rating. Keep an eye on that rating this year.
Cotton condition ratings nationwide slipped by two points this week, dropping to 49 percent good to excellent. While most of the major producing states are in relatively good shape, the largest producing state of Texas can still only claim 30 percent of its crop makes the grade in those top two categories.
Winter wheat condition nationwide improved by two more percentage points to edge up to 38 percent good to excellent. However, as analyst Arlan Suderman points out, that is largely because of increased abandoned acres among drought ravaged fields which leaves fewer (and better quality) fields to count. In the Plains, Kansas still reports only 14 percent of its acres made the good to excellent grade. Winter wheat condition ratings will mean very little moving forward as much of the crop is now at or near maturity.
Winter wheat harvest progress increased to eight percent nationwide this week. Texas reports 42 percent of its acreage is now harvested and Oklahoma says 28 percent of its crop is already in the bin. Kansas reported a tiny start on a few fields as it registered one percent of its fields harvested. Most, if not all of the harvest activity in the southern Plains has probably been interrupted early this week due to rain and storms in much of the region, so progress this week may be limited.
Spring wheat condition dropped by four percentage points nationwide this week so that it now stands at 60 percent good to excellent. Oddly enough, the states that saw the largest decline in condition are two of the states that made some of the earliest planting progress. Washington state went down by 17 points and Montana came down by 10 points. But yet, Idaho, which is sandwiched in between both of them saw a three point improvement! And Minnesota, which had the slowest planting progress, now has the best good to excellent rating of 72 percent. Go figure...
Pasture conditions were all over the place this week, depending greatly on moisture and temperatures. In the Plains, Oklahoma now sports the best pasture conditions with 59 percent of its acres rated good to excellent. Even though Kansas improved by eight points, it still has some of the poorest conditions overall with only 26 percent making the good to excellent cut. Outside the Plains, Wyoming and Colorado both saw double digit improvements..
In the topsoil moisture deficit report (generally considered to measure the top four inches of soil representing the seed planting and sprouting zone), Michigan maintains a firm grip on the top spot with 91 percent of its acres rated short to very short. Major shuffling has been taking place over the past couple of weeks. Pennsylvania has gone backwards tremendously since late May and now reports 90 percent of its fields are short on moisture. West Virginia catapulted into third place as it leapt from 40 to 81 percent deficit in just one week! Incredible!
In the subsoil moisture deficit report (considered to measure deep soil moisture down to a few feet where the crop roots would extend downward), Michigan leads again with 86 percent of its acres considered short to very short on moisture. Here, West Virginia leapfrogged into the second spot with 73 percent - a one week drop of 32 percentage points in moisture availability. Also, keep an eye on Ohio whose deficit rating jumped by 15 points since a week ago.
USDA Crop Progress 230612.pdf
