USDA NASS’ Crop Progress report on Monday was a tale of two planting situations, with row-crop planting jumping ahead of the five-year average and spring wheat planting continuing to lag behind the normal pace.

Corn planting progress jumped ahead another 24 percentage points last week to reach 51% complete as of Sunday, May 3. That was 30 percentage points ahead of last year at the same time and 12 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 39%

“Seventy-eight percent of Iowa’s corn and 78% of Minnesota’s corn was planted, well ahead of their typical paces,” said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. “Nebraska is 61% planted and Illinois is at 56%.”

Corn emerged was 8%, ahead of the 5% last year but slightly behind the average pace of 10%.

Soybean planting also picked up speed last week, moving ahead 15 percentage points to reach 23% complete as of Sunday. That is well ahead of 5% last year and 12 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 11%. Iowa and Illinois were 46% and 31% planted, respectively, Hultman noted.

In contrast to row-crop planting, spring wheat planting continued to run well behind its average pace. Twenty-nine percent of spring wheat was planted as of Sunday, ahead of 19% last year but still 14 percentage points behind the five-year average of 43%.

“The slowest spring wheat planting progress is in North Dakota where 15% of the crop is planted,” Hultman said.

Six percent of the spring wheat crop had emerged, down from the five-year average of 16%.

Winter wheat conditions stabilized after two previous weeks of dropping. NASS estimated that 55% of the nation’s winter wheat was rated in good-to-excellent condition, up 1 percentage point from 54% the previous week. That followed a 3-percentage-point drop in the previous week’s report. The current good-to-excellent rating is below 64% a year ago.

“Kansas winter wheat was at 42% good to excellent, up from 40% last week,” Hultman said. “Colorado had the highest amount of very poor wheat, at 15%, due to drought.”

Winter wheat was 21% headed as of Sunday versus a five-year average of 25%.

Sorghum was 22% planted, slightly ahead of 21% last year but behind the five-year average of 26%. Oats were 67% planted, compared to 48% last year and a 67% average. Oats emergence was at 44%, compared to 35% last year and a 47% average. Barley was 41% planted, ahead of 34% last year, but well behind the five-year average of 50%.

Cotton planting was 18% complete, compared to 16% last year and a 17% average. Rice was 49% planted, ahead of 45% last year but behind the average of 64%. Rice emerged was 32%, behind the average of 45%.

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 Planted 51 27 21 39
Corn Emerged 8 3 5 10
Soybeans Planted 23 8 5 11
Winter Wheat Headed 32 21 26 38
Spring Wheat Planted 29 14 19 43
Spring Wheat Emerged 6 4 4 16
Cotton Planted 18 13 16 17
Sorghum Planted 22 20 21 26
Barley Planted 41 24 34 50
Barley Emerged 12 8 10 23
Oats Planted 67 54 48 67
Oats Emerged 44 32 35 47
Rice Planted 49 39 45 64
Rice Emerged 32 23 33 45

**

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
Winter Wheat 4 10 31 48 7 4 11 31 47 7 2 6 28 52 12

Anthony Greder can be reached at anthony.greder@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @AGrederDTN

Source: Anthony Greder, DTN