Despite a drop in top-corn-producer Iowa’s good-to-excellent rating, the overall condition of the nation’s corn crop held steady last week, USDA NASS said in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

NASS estimated that 72% of the corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, Aug. 2, unchanged from the previous week and still the third-highest good-to-excellent rating in 10 years.

“Illinois corn was rated 76% good to excellent, Nebraska 77%, Minnesota 85% and Wisconsin 81%,” said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini. “Iowa’s good-to-excellent rating fell another 4 points last week to 73%.”

Corn development nationwide continued to run ahead of normal last week. Silking reached 92% as of Sunday, 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 87%. Corn in the dough stage was estimated at 39%, 6 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 33%.

Soybean development also continued to run ahead of the average pace last week. Soybeans blooming was estimated at 85%, 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 82%. The portion of the crop setting pods was estimated at 59%, 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average.

Soybean conditions improved slightly last week. NASS estimated that 73% of the nation’s soybean crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Aug. 2, up 1 percentage point from 72% the previous week. The current good-to-excellent rating for soybeans is now the highest in 10 years, Mantini said.

“Illinois soybeans were rated 76% good to excellent, Nebraska 79%, Wisconsin 83% and Minnesota 85%,” Mantini said. “Iowa fell another 3 points to 73% good to excellent last week.”

Winter wheat harvest slowed last week, moving ahead just 4 percentage points to reach 85% complete as of Sunday. That is 3 percentage points behind the five-year average of 88%.

DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman noted that although winter wheat harvest is slightly behind normal, no significant problems have been reported.

“Nebraska is within 4 percentage points of being finished, and South Dakota is 87% harvested,” Hultman said. “Washington is one-third harvested, and Montana shows the least progress at 20%.”

Spring wheat harvest was also trailing the normal pace at 5% harvested as of Sunday, compared to the five-year average of 10%. South Dakota was leading the pack at 35% complete, Hultman noted.

Spring wheat condition increased another 3 percentage points to 73% good to excellent. That’s the third-highest rating for the crop in the past 10 years, Hultman said.

“Sixty-eight percent of the spring wheat crop in North Dakota is rated good-to-excellent, up 4 points from the previous week,” Hultman said. “The highest rating remains in Idaho at 83% good-to-excellent, even after this week’s 5-point drop.”

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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 Silking 92 82 72 87
Corn Dough 39 22 20 33
Soybeans Blooming 85 76 68 82
Soybeans Setting Pods 59 43 32 54
Winter Wheat Harvested 85 81 80 88
Spring Wheat Harvested 5 1 2 10
Cotton Squaring 91 84 92 91
Cotton Setting Bolls 54 42 55 55
Sorghum Headed 55 44 42 56
Sorghum Coloring 23 20 22 26
Oats Harvested 49 32 29 43
Rice Headed 59 43 55 68

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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 2 5 21 55 17 2 5 21 55 17 3 10 30 47 10
Soybean 1 5 21 58 15 1 5 22 57 15 3 10 33 45 9
Spring Wheat 1 4 22 62 11 2 4 24 60 10 – 5 22 63 10
Cotton 3 13 39 36 9 3 13 35 40 9 1 12 33 44 10
Rice – 2 22 57 19 – 3 21 57 19 1 6 25 45 23
Sorghum 2 8 35 42 13 2 9 36 42 11 1 5 26 54 14
Oats 2 8 28 53 9 3 9 27 52 9 2 6 27 54 11
Barley 1 2 16 62 19 1 3 16 56 24 – 5 19 64 12

Source: DTN