Ninety-six percent of the corn that farmers intend to plant this year — on those acres that were still farmable following relentless rains and flooding this spring — was planted as of Sunday, June 23, according to the latest USDA NASS Crop Progress report released Monday.

Progress was up just 4 percentage points from 92% the previous week. That put planting progress 4 percentage points behind both last year’s pace and the five-year average of 100%. But at this stage in the growing season, advancement in corn planting progress is most likely due to farmers abandoning plans to plant remaining acres they had originally intended to plant to corn. For those farmers, planting would then be considered complete for the season, according to sources at NASS.

Planting progress estimates represent the portion of the crop that was planted relative to farmers’ planting intentions as of last week, not as of the March Prospective Plantings report or what they had originally intended to plant at the start of the season, Lance Honig, chief of the Crops Branch at NASS, said in an interview with USDA Radio Newsline last week.

An estimated 89% of corn was emerged as of Sunday, 10 percentage points behind the five-year average of 99%.

NASS estimated that 56% of corn that was emerged was in good-to-excellent condition, down 3 percentage points from 59% the previous week and below 77% at the same time last year.

Meanwhile, an estimated 85% of intended soybean acres were planted, up 8 percentage points from 77% the previous week. Progress was 12 percentage points behind the five-year average of 97%, continuing to improve slightly from last week’s report when soybean planting was 16 percentage points behind average.

Nationwide, 71% of soybeans were emerged, 20 percentage points behind the average of 91%. In last week’s report, soybean emergence was 29 percentage points behind average.

NASS also included its first soybean condition rating of the season in Monday’s report.

“The first good-to-excellent rating for soybeans in 2019 was 54%, on the lower end of guesses and down from 73% a year ago,” noted DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. “Good-to-excellent ratings were 63% for Iowa and 42% for Illinois.”

Winter wheat was 94% headed as of Sunday, behind last year’s 98% and 5 percentage points behind the five-year average of 99%. Winter wheat harvest reached 15% complete as of Sunday, well behind 39% last year and also behind the average of 34%.

“Arkansas winter wheat was 80% harvested, followed by North Carolina at 61% and Texas at 58%,” Hultman said. “Kansas was 5% harvested.”

Sixty-one percent of the winter wheat remaining in fields was rated in good-to-excellent condition, down from 64% the previous week.

Seven percent of the spring wheat crop was headed, up just 5 percentage points from the previous week, putting progress well behind last year’s 30% and the five-year average of 29%.

Spring wheat condition for the portion of the crop that was emerged was rated 75% good to excellent, down 2 percentage points from 77% the previous week.

Sorghum was 84% planted, compared to 94% last year and a five-year average of 91%. Seventeen percent of sorghum was headed, slightly behind the five-year average of 20%. Oats emerged were at 97%, compared to 100% last year and an average of 100%. Forty-three percent of oats were headed, behind the average of 68%.

Cotton planting was 96% complete, compared to 99% last year and the average of 98%. Cotton squaring, at 30%, was slightly ahead of the average pace of 28%. Cotton setting bolls was 3%, slightly behind the average of 5%. Rice was 97% emerged, compared to 100% last year and an average of 100%. Five percent of rice was headed, slightly behind the average of 8%.

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 96 92 100 100
Corn Emerged 89 79 100 99
Soybeans Planted 85 77 100 97
Soybeans Emerged 71 55 94 91
Winter Wheat Headed 94 89 98 99
Winter Wheat Harvested 15 8 39 34
Spring Wheat Headed 7 2 30 29
Cotton Planted 96 89 99 98
Cotton Squaring 30 19 31 28
Cotton Setting Bolls 3 NA 6 5
Sorghum Planted 84 69 94 91
Sorghum Headed 17 15 20 20
Barley Emerged 97 92 99 99
Barley Headed 9 2 25 30
Oats Emerged 97 94 100 100
Oats Headed 43 33 65 68
Rice Emerged 97 94 100 100
Rice Headed 5 NA 6 8

**

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 3 9 32 48 8 2 8 31 52 7 1 4 18 58 19
Soybeans 2 8 36 47 7 NA NA NA NA NA 1 4 22 58 15
Winter Wheat 3 8 28 46 15 2 7 27 51 13 15 19 29 28 9
Spring Wheat – 3 22 67 8 1 1 21 69 8 2 3 18 63 14
Cotton 4 13 33 45 5 4 11 36 42 7 1 18 39 35 7
Sorghum – 3 25 61 11 NA NA NA NA NA 3 9 32 51 5
Barley 1 4 23 64 8 1 6 17 63 13 1 3 13 65 18
Oats 2 5 29 56 8 2 4 28 58 8 3 3 22 59 13
Rice 1 6 27 52 14 1 6 30 51 12 – 5 25 57 13

**

National Soil Moisture Condition – 48 States
(VS = Very Short; SH = Short; AD = Adequate; SR = Surplus)
This Week Last Week Last Year
VS SH AD SR VS SH AD SR VS SH AD SR
Topsoil Moisture 2 8 64 26 2 10 67 21 8 18 61 13
Subsoil Moisture 2 8 65 25 2 8 68 22 9 20 62 9

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

Follow him on Twitter @AGrederDTN

Source: Anthony Greder, DTN