In this week’s report, USDA pegs corn planting progress as of Sunday, May 15 at 49 percent complete nationally - making good progress, but still lagging the five-year average of 67 percent. In the important I-80 Corridor encompassing the key corn production areas between Nebraska and Ohio, Nebraska still leads with 62 percent in the ground, but the state of Iowa made tremendous strides as it planted 43 percent of its crop just last week while Illinois made similar progress planting 40 percent of its acreage since last week’s report. In the other states, North Dakota stands out like a sore thumb with only FOUR percent of its corn planted versus its average of 41 percent!!! There will obviously be a lot of “prevented plant” acres turned in to insurance in North Dakota this year and that will definitely cut into the national production total.
Soybean planting moved up to 30 percent complete nationwide - trailing the national average pace by nine points. In the I-80 Corridor, Nebraska has made the most progress with 44 percent of its crop planted. Illinois comes in second with 38 percent in the ground - getting within seven points of its state average. Both Iowa and Illinois put in 27 percent of their respective soybean crops last week.
The national cotton planting is keeping up with its five-year average pace - coming in at 37 percent completed. Of the top five producing states, Alabama made the most progress putting in 28 percent last week. Mississippi continues to run ahead of schedule with 55 percent of its crop in the ground - 11 points ahead of where it normally would be.
Grain sorghum (milo) planting made slow progress, only reaching 26 percent complete nationwide - still four points behind its average just like last week. Oklahoma and Nebraska are running the furthest behind as they are both 13 percentage points behind their normal pace.
Rice planting is slightly ahead where it should be with 80 percent of the national acreage in the ground compared to the average pace of 79 percent. Louisiana and Texas are both coming down the home stretch with over 90 percent of their acreage planted. Missouri made strong progress last week as it planted 25 percent of its acres. However, it now stands at 56 percent complete which still lags its average of 74 percent.
Peanut planting made outstanding progress nationally in all the major producing states except for Oklahoma where the progress was more muted. The national crop is now 47 percent planted - two points ahead of the five-year average. Oklahoma only planted eight percent of its peanuts last week, but ALL of the other major states planted more than 20 percent since the last report.
Spring wheat planting is now 39 percent complete nationwide compared to its five-year average pace of 67percent. North Dakota continues to drag down the national average as it has only been able to plant 17 percent of its spring wheat acreage up to this point - an amazing 43 points behind its average pace! Cold, wet weather continues to keep farmers out of the fields there and more cold weather is expected there by the end of this week.
Nationally, oats planting stands at 67 percent completion which puts it 15 points behind its average of 82 percent. The states lagging the most include Minnesota which is running 34 points behind, North Dakota which is 33 points behind, and Wisconsin which trails its average pace by 17 points.
Winter wheat condition gave back the two percentage points that it gained last week to slide back down to 27 percent in the combined good to excellent categories. In the critical Plains states, ALL of the states reported declines in crop condition. Oklahoma had the biggest drop as it went down by seven points from a week ago. South Dakota went down six points and Nebraska slid by five. With harvest time rapidly approaching in central Texas, a jaw dropping 81 percent of its crop is rated poor to very poor. I have been hearing many reports of wheat being cut for whatever forage value the farmers can get from the plants, or simply just abandoning the acreage as a total loss in order to plant something else.
Pasture conditions in the Plains on average held steady with a week ago. Kansas and South Dakota pastureland improved by seven and six points respectively in the good to excellent categories. Up north, North Dakota improved by 14 points thanks to the abundant moisture received recently. On the other hand, Texas declined by another point to only 10 percent. That leaves 74 percent of the Texas pastureland in poor to very poor condition.
In the topsoil moisture deficit category (generally considered to measure the top four inches of soil representing the seed planting and sprouting zone), New Mexico retains the top spot again with 89 percent of its acres considered short to very short. Texas declined another five points and now shows 86 percent of its acres are short to very short.
In the subsoil moisture deficit category (considered to measure deep soil moisture down to a few feet where the crop roots would extend downward), New Mexico still claims the dubious top spot with 92 percent of its acreage in the short to very short categories. Texas moves into second place with 85 percent. Montana drops to third after improving by seven points last week. The gold star for recovery goes to Wyoming which improved by nine points.
