The U.S. corn crop’s good-to-excellent rating fell last week due to significant rating declines for several major corn-producing states, USDA NASS said in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

NASS estimated that 64% of the nation’s corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, Aug. 23, down 5 percentage points from 69% and now the fifth-highest good-to-excellent rating in the past 10 years.

“Good-to-excellent ratings in Michigan fell 11 points, Iowa was down 9 points, Nebraska was down 7 points and South Dakota was down 6,” said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

Meanwhile, corn development stages remained roughly in line with five-year averages. Eighty-eight percent of corn was in the dough stage as of Sunday, 6 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 82%, and 44% of the crop was dented, 5 percentage points ahead of the average of 39%. Corn mature was estimated at 5%, ahead of 2% at the same time last year but equal to the five-year average.

Like corn, soybean conditions also declined again last week. NASS estimated that 69% of the nation’s soybean crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Aug. 23, down 3 percentage points from 72% the previous week but still the third-highest rating in at least 10 years.

“Good-to-excellent ratings in Michigan and South Dakota were down 10 points each, Iowa was down 6 points and Nebraska was down 5 points,” Hultman said.

Soybean development was also running at a near-normal pace. Soybeans setting pods was estimated at 92%, 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 87%. Soybeans dropping leaves was estimated at 4%, equal to the five-year average.

Winter wheat harvest moved ahead another 4 percentage points last week to reach 97% complete as of Sunday, just 1 percentage point behind the average pace of 98%.

“Montana and Washington are 82% done compared to the average of 90%-91%, while Idaho is 83% complete, just below the average of 88%,” said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.

Spring wheat harvest jumped ahead 19 percentage points to reach 49% complete as of Sunday. That was well ahead of 32% at the same time last year but still 13 percentage points behind the five-year average of 62%.

“Spring wheat harvest progress in North Dakota is the slowest, at 39% harvested versus a five-year average of 59%, and Minnesota is now 54% done compared to the average of 69%,” Mantini said.

USDA estimated that 71% of the spring wheat crop still in fields was in good-to-excellent condition, up 1 percentage point from the previous week. There was a gain of 1 percentage point in the excellent category to 13%.

“Sixty-three percent of the spring wheat crop in North Dakota is rated good to excellent, down 2 percentage points from last week,” Mantini said. “Minnesota is still highly rated at 77% good to excellent.”

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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 Dough 88 76 66 82
Corn Dented 44 23 24 39
Corn Mature 5 NA 2 5
Soybeans Setting Pods 92 84 76 87
Soybeans Dropping Leaves 4 NA 2 4
Winter Wheat Harvested 97 93 95 98
Spring Wheat Harvested 49 30 32 62
Cotton Setting Bolls 88 80 89 89
Cotton Bolls Opening 22 15 27 19
Sorghum Headed 91 83 83 88
Sorghum Coloring 47 34 38 47
Sorghum Mature 21 NA 22 26
Oats Harvested 85 74 71 84
Barley Harvested 55 34 47 72
Rice Headed 93 86 94 96
Rice Harvested 17 13 14 17

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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 4 8 24 49 15 3 7 21 52 17 3 10 30 47 10
Soybean 2 6 23 55 14 2 5 21 56 16 3 10 32 46 9
Spring Wheat 2 4 23 58 13 2 4 24 58 12 1 5 25 60 9
Cotton 12 13 29 37 9 7 15 33 35 10 2 15 40 35 8
Rice 1 3 20 58 18 1 3 20 59 17 1 5 25 48 21
Sorghum 5 11 30 43 11 5 9 29 45 12 1 6 27 51 15
Barley 1 3 16 58 22 1 3 19 59 18 1 4 19 61 15

 

Source: DTN