In this week’s Crop Progress & Condition report, USDA showed farmers made tremendous corn planting progress nationwide as 49 percent is now in the ground compared to the five-year average of 51 percent. In the I-80 Corridor, Illinois still has the most corn acreage planted with 73 percent, but Iowa put on quite an impressive effort as it reported a huge gain of 41 percentage points just since last week. On the east end of the Corridor, Ohio is having a hard time keeping up as it only planted one percent of its acreage in the past seven days - leaving it with only 11 percent planted which lags its average of 17 percent.
Soybean planting comes in at 35 percent complete across the U.S. this week compared to an average pace of 21 percent by this time of the year. Illinois leads the progress in the I-80 Corridor with 66 percent of its beans in the ground - well ahead of its five-year average of 28 percent. Iowa zoomed up to 49 percent planted which reflected a 33 percent gain since a week ago. Just as in the corn, Ohio is lagging the other Corridor states. However, with 16 percent now planted, it is actually running five points ahead of its average pace.
Cotton planting moved ahead to 22 percent completion nationwide - one point behind its average pace. Of the top five producing states, Alabama is now the furthest along with 30 percent planted while Mississippi came in second with 25 percent after showing the fastest increase in planted acreage last week. The largest producing state of Texas only increased by three to end up at 23 percent done.
Grain sorghum planting across the nation increased by three points once again - ending up at 24 percent completion. Of the major producing states in the Plains, Texas kept pace with its five-year average of 73 percent. Oklahoma is double its average with 20 percent of its acres now planted.
Spring wheat planting nationwide moved up to 24 percent this week, but that is still far behind its five-year average of 38. Washington state is nearing completion with 89 percent of its acres seeded. Idaho reported 63 percent in the ground as of Sunday, but the shocker was South Dakota which saw farmers plant their crop at a blistering pace of 39 percent in the last seven days - bringing its total up to 56 percent - within four points of its average pace.
Winter wheat condition nationwide picked up one single point in the good to excellent ratings - landing at 29 percent. While none of the wheat in the Plains is in great shape, Texas does report the most in the good to excellent range with 20 percent. South Dakota is next with 18 percent. The huge winter wheat producing state of Kansas still reports 68 percent of its crop falls into the poor to very poor categories and MANY of its acres in the western third of the state have been abandoned or destroyed in favor of a different crop. Keep in mind, the annual Wheat Quality Council tour gets under way in Kansas and surrounding areas early next week! Oklahoma wheat is also in very bad shape with only seven percent making the good to excellent grade.
USDA issued its first pasture condition report for this year. (You will note on the PDF tables that the “Change” numbers for this week only equal the Good to Excellent numbers since there were no numbers to compare them to last week.) In the Plains states, Texas reported the best showing as 26 percent of its acres rated good to excellent, reflecting beneficial rains in the southeastern two thirds of the state while most of the Panhandle remained excessively dry. Nebraska has the poorest conditions with only TWO percent meeting the good to excellent criteria. The Rocky Mountain states and North Dakota conditions fared much better with Wyoming showing the best rating of 47 percent.
In the topsoil moisture deficit report (generally considered to measure the top four inches of soil representing the seed planting and sprouting zone), New Mexico moved back into the top spot with 74 percent of its acres showing short to very short moisture conditions. Kansas is close behind with 73 percent. Nebraska actually improved by 12 points this week, so it slid down to third.
In the subsoil moisture deficit report (considered to measure deep soil moisture down to a few feet where the crop roots would extend downward), New Mexico outpaced all others with 90 percent of its acres rated short to very short. Kansas and Nebraska tied for second with 81 percent.
USDA Crop Progress 230508.pdf
