Warmer, drier weather across much of the central U.S. the first week of June allowed farmers to push ahead with planting and also aided crop emergence, USDA NASS said in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

NASS estimated that 97% of the nation’s intended corn crop was planted as of Sunday, June 8, a gain of 4 percentage points from the previous week’s 93%. This year’s current progress is 19 percentage points ahead of last year at the same time and 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 94%.

“North Dakota is now 87% planted versus a 96% average, and Pennsylvania is now 91% planted,” noted DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.

Eighty-nine percent of corn had emerged, 32 percentage points ahead of last year and 5 percentage points ahead of the average pace of 84%.

“North Dakota and Pennsylvania are the laggards at just 52% and 60% emerged compared to the five-year averages of 77% and 74%, respectively,” Mantini said.

NASS estimated that 75% of the nation’s corn crop was rated in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, up 1 percentage point from the previous week’s 74% and 16 percentage points above 59% at the same time last year. The current good-to-excellent rating is the third highest for this time of year in the past 10 years.

“Good-to-excellent ratings in key corn-growing states included Illinois with 68% of corn rated good to excellent, Iowa at 85%, Minnesota at 83% and Nebraska at 83%. Wisconsin was the garden spot at 86% good to excellent,” Mantini said. “North Carolina corn was the worst rated at 59% good to excellent and 15% very poor to poor.”

Soybean planting also moved ahead significantly last week, gaining 11 percentage points to reach 86% complete as of Sunday. That put this year’s current progress 32 percentage points ahead of last year’s pace and 7 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 79%. North Dakota soybeans were only 74% planted, but improved by 23 points from the previous week, Mantini noted.

Soybean emergence was estimated at 67% as of Sunday, well ahead of last year’s 30% and also ahead of the five-year average of 61%.

“Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota soybeans ranged from 16 to 20 points above the average emergence pace,” Mantini said.

NASS estimated national soybean crop condition at 72% good-to-excellent, up 2 percentage points from 70% the previous week.

“Good-to-excellent ratings for some of the major soybean-producing states included Iowa at 82%, Minnesota at 84% and Nebraska at 82%. Wisconsin, at 86%, had the highest good-to-excellent soybean rating,” Mantini said.

Spring wheat planting also entered the homestretch last week with an estimated 97% of the crop planted as of Sunday, 1 percentage point ahead of last year and 2 percentage points behind the five-year average of 99%. North Dakota was 95% planted.

Spring wheat emergence jumped to 81% last week, slightly ahead of last year’s 80% but 10 percentage points behind the average of 91%.

Spring wheat condition was estimated at 82% good to excellent, up 2 percentage points from 80% the previous week and the second-highest rating in the past 10 years.

Meanwhile, 85% of winter wheat was headed at the end of last week compared to 81% last year at the same time and a five-year average of 88%.

Winter wheat harvest moved ahead only 4 percentage points last week to reach 7% done as of Sunday, equal to the five-year average pace.

After falling the previous week, winter wheat conditions held steady last week at 51% good to excellent. The current good-to-excellent rating is below last year’s 64%.

“The good-to-excellent rating for winter wheat in Kansas as of Sunday was 42%, the same as a week ago,” said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. “States with the highest very-poor-to-poor ratings included Colorado at 38%; Kansas, Oregon, Arkansas and Texas at 24% each; and Oklahoma at 23%.”

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 97 93 78 94
Corn Emerged 89 78 57 84
Soybeans Planted 86 75 54 79
Soybeans Emerged 67 52 30 61
Winter Wheat Headed 85 77 81 88
Winter Wheat Harvested 7 3 3 7
Spring Wheat Planted 97 91 96 99
Spring Wheat Emerged 81 67 80 91
Cotton Planted 78 66 74 81
Cotton Squaring 13 8 10 10
Sorghum Planted 64 49 45 60
Barley Planted 97 93 96 99
Barley Emerged 87 74 82 90
Oats Emerged 91 86 84 94
Oats Headed 34 27 27 36
Rice Planted 95 93 95 98
Rice Emerged 88 81 84 93

**

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 1 3 21 60 15 1 3 22 61 13 2 7 32 52 7
Soybean 1 3 24 60 12 1 3 26 60 10 NA NA NA NA NA
Winter Wheat 7 12 30 42 9 6 13 30 43 8 2 7 27 50 14
Spring Wheat – 1 17 72 10 1 1 18 72 8 – 1 18 73 8
Cotton 2 11 44 36 7 1 7 48 39 5 7 8 41 37 7
Rice – 2 28 56 14 – 2 29 55 14 1 6 32 52 9
Sorghum 1 5 39 50 5 2 4 30 56 8 NA NA NA NA NA
Oats – 4 25 59 12 1 3 25 59 12 2 4 29 57 8
Barley – 2 19 65 14 – 1 30 61 8 – 2 14 68 16

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

Follow him on Twitter @AGrederDTN

Source: Anthony Greder, DTN