SOYBEANS
— Crop development: Soybeans setting pods were estimated at 97%, the same as last year but 1 point ahead of the five-year average of 96%. Soybeans dropping leaves were pegged at 25%, 2 points behind last year’s 27% but 4 points ahead of the five-year average of 21%.
— Crop condition: NASS estimated that 65% of soybeans were in good-to-excellent condition, unchanged from the previous week and still above last year’s rating of 52% good to excellent. “Illinois’ and Iowa’s soybeans are rated at 70% and 78% good to excellent, respectively,” Mantini noted.
SPRING WHEAT
— Harvest progress: Spring wheat harvest moved ahead another 15 percentage points last week to reach 85% complete as of Sunday. That brought this year’s harvest progress to 2 points higher than both last year and the five-year average of 83%. “North Dakota’s spring wheat is 79% harvested, and Minnesota’s is 89% harvested,” Mantini said.
WINTER WHEAT
— Planting progress: Winter wheat planting moved ahead 4 points last week to reach 6% nationwide as of Sunday, 1 point behind last year’s 5% but equal to the five-year average pace. “Washington is the most advanced at 34%, with Colorado second at 17% planted,” Mantini noted.
**
THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER
Much of the Corn Belt has been dry over the last couple of weeks, and southern and eastern sections have been considerably dry and have dealt with more heat, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick. Dryness and drought have been rapidly increasing at the tail end of the year and are expected to continue for most of the Corn Belt this week, he said.
“We got a nice break from the heat over the weekend, but that’s not lasting long, as heat out in the West is going to be spreading eastward through the country as well,” Baranick said. “Lots of highs in the 80s and 90s Fahrenheit are going to be 10 to sometimes 15 degrees above normal for this time of year.
“And we would be talking about it also being dry. Storm systems are going to try to move into the upper-level ridge that is bringing the heat, but they’ll be deflected north into the Canadian Prairies. That would leave much of the country drier with just some isolated streaks occurring in the Plains.
“But Tropical Storm Francine is forming in the Gulf of Mexico. It is forecast to become a hurricane before reaching Louisiana late on Wednesday. The track is currently for it to move north to the Bootheel of Missouri before stalling out on Friday evening. Where it goes from there is uncertain, but it is currently forecast to drift through the Tennessee Valley this weekend and through a good portion of next week. Heavy rainfall will occur along the path from Louisiana to the Ohio River, helping to boost water levels on the Mississippi River and reduce some of the drought that has been occurring there recently. But it comes at a bad time for harvest in these areas.
“The whole southeast quadrant of the country could see scattered showers continuing into next week that could be a concern for crop quality on maturing crops of all varieties.”
**
Editor’s Note: How are your crops looking? Are they better, worse or right on track with USDA NASS’ observations this week? Send us your comments, and we’ll add them to the Crop Progress report story. You can email comments to Anthony.greder@dtn.com or direct message him on social platform X @AGrederDTN. Please include the location of where you farm.
**
To view weekly crop progress reports issued by National Ag Statistics Service offices in individual states, visit http://www.nass.usda.gov/…. Look for the U.S. map in the “Find Data and Reports by” section and choose the state you wish to view in the drop-down menu. Then look for that state’s “Crop Progress & Condition” report.
National Crop Progress Summary This Last Last 5-Year Week Week Year Avg. Corn Dough 95 90 96 94 Corn Dented 74 60 78 73 Corn Mature 29 19 29 24 Corn Harvested 5 NA 4 3 Soybeans Setting Pods 97 94 97 96 Soybeans Dropping Leaves 25 13 27 21 Spring Wheat Harvested 85 70 83 83 Winter Wheat Planted 6 2 5 6 Cotton Bolls Opening 45 37 40 40 Cotton Harvested 8 NA 7 6 Sorghum Coloring 75 62 70 72 Sorghum Mature 36 30 34 32 Sorghum Harvested 21 19 20 21 Oats Harvested 94 89 94 94 Barley Harvested 89 75 86 87 Rice Harvested 54 43 42 33
**
National Crop Condition Summary (VP=Very Poor; P=Poor; F=Fair; G=Good; E=Excellent) This Week Last Week Last Year VP P F G E VP P F G E VP P F G E Corn 4 8 24 48 16 4 8 23 50 15 6 12 30 43 9 Soybeans 3 7 25 52 13 3 7 25 52 13 6 12 30 43 9 Sorghum 7 13 32 40 8 6 13 31 42 8 10 16 30 35 9 Cotton 12 16 32 34 6 12 16 32 34 6 18 23 30 24 5 Rice 1 3 16 64 16 1 3 19 62 15 – 3 26 56 15
(c) Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.
 Â
