USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report - Corn 57% Planted, Soybeans 49% Planted, Winter Wheat Rated 28% Good to Excellent as of May 10

OMAHA (DTN) -- Corn planting was over halfway finished by the end of last week, while soybean planting continued ahead of last year's pace and its five-year average, according to USDA NASS's weekly Crop Progress report released on Monday.

Planting progress is expected to improve this week as temperatures rise and most areas turn drier, though drought conditions continue in parts of the Central Plains and Southeast, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

CORN

-- Planting progress: 57% of corn was planted nationwide as of Sunday, 2 points behind last year's pace of 59% and 5 points ahead of the five-year average of 52%. "Tennessee and Kentucky lead the pack at 92% and 87% planted," DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini said. "Major states Iowa and Illinois are 72% and 54% planted, respectively."

-- Crop development: 23% of corn had emerged as of Sunday, 3 points behind last year's 26% and 4 points ahead of the five-year average of 19%.

SOYBEANS

-- Planting progress: An estimated 49% of intended soybean acreage was planted as of Sunday, 4 points ahead of last year at this time and 13 points ahead of the five-year average of 36%. Soybean planting continues to progress quickly in Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, with Iowa and Illinois at 60% and 57% planted and ahead of average, Mantini said.

-- Crop development: 20% of soybeans had emerged as of Sunday, 4 points ahead of last year and 8 points ahead of the five-year average of 12%.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Crop condition: An estimated 40% of winter wheat was rated poor to very poor as of May 10, up 22 percentage points from 18% a year ago, according to NASS.

-- Crop development: 61% of winter wheat was headed nationwide as of Sunday. That's 10 percentage points ahead of last year's 51% and 16 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 45%. Top winter-wheat-producer Kansas' crop was 86% headed, 19 points ahead of last year at this time and 37 points ahead of the five-year average.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Planting progress: 53% of the crop was planted nationwide as of May 10, 10 percentage points behind last year's pace of 63% and 2 percentage points ahead the five-year average of 51%. Washington is nearly finished at 94% complete, while North Dakota is the furthest behind at 42% planted, lagging last year's pace but still ahead of its five-year average.

-- Crop development: 23% of spring wheat was emerged as of Sunday, 2 percentage points behind last year's pace of 25% and 4 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 19%.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

Planting weather is expected to improve across much of the Plains and Midwest this week with warmer temperatures and drier conditions, though a system arriving this weekend could slow progress, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"Though we got some nice precipitation across the Central Plains and Southeast last week, we still have a lot of drought on the Drought Monitor to deal with," Baranick said. "Long-term deficits are rather large despite some heavy rainfall in parts of the Southeast, so there isn't much subsoil moisture to rely on once the topsoil moisture is used up.

"Frosts across the north have been an issue for planting, and we had some frosts on Monday morning as well, but temperatures will be rising for the rest of the week. It may take until the end of the week to get to the eastern Great Lakes, but it's coming. Planters will be in full force this week as long as precipitation isn't too crazy.

"We will get some showers this week, but overall, most areas are going to be drier, which should help planting progress. We will see a little system moving through the Northern Plains on Monday and the Midwest on Tuesday and Wednesday. Showers do not look very intense. Another system will move mostly through the Canadian Prairies from Thursday through Saturday. The front to the system will bring showers down into the Plains and Midwest, but again, the coverage looks rather low.

"This weekend though, a system is setting up to work through the Northern Plains and into the Midwest. More widespread precipitation is likely and will continue southward along the cold front going into next week. That should be enough to cause a pause in planting progress, but may get some rain into those areas that need it as well. The Southeast will not be as lucky as after Monday it is looking rather dry there through the coming weekend, not helping with the drought situation. We may see some colder temperatures across the Canadian Prairies into the far northern Plains behind that system into early next week, but frosts risks are pretty low for as of the latest forecasts."

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Planted	57	38	59	52
Corn Emerged	23	13	26	19
Soybeans Planted	49	33	45	36
Soybeans Emerged	20	13	16	12
Winter Wheat Headed	61	49	51	45
Spring Wheat Planted	53	32	63	51
Spring Wheat Emerged	23	10	25	19
Cotton Planted	29	21	27	28
Sorghum Planted	25	22	26	24
Oats Planted	76	63	80	73
Oats Emerged	50	43	57	52
Barley Planted	65	49	61	58
Barley Emerged	33	22	27	25
Rice Planted	84	79	79	77
Rice Emerged	69	61	63	57
Sugarbeets Planted	79	55	90	72
Peanuts Planted	25	13	32	30

**

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	16	24	32	23	5		13	24	32	26	5		6	12	28	46	8
Rice	-	3	24	64	9		-	2	24	66	8		1	1	21	49	28

Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Region - Storage Reservoirs in the Upper Snake River (5/11)

Average daily streamflows indicated in cubic feet per second.

Reservoir levels current as of midnight on date indicated.

Upper Snake River system is at 68 % of capacity.
(Jackson Lake,Palisades, Grassy Lake,Island Park,Ririe,American Falls,LakeWalcott)
Total space available:	1305571 AF
Total storage capacity:	4045695 AF

This Week's Drought Summary (5/7)

Widespread soaking rains fell across Texas and the Deep South, bringing a much needed moisture boost to these drought stricken areas. While sufficient to ease drought conditions across portions of Texas, the lower Mississippi Valley, and the Tennessee Valley, drought conditions remained mostly unchanged across southeastern Alabama, Georgia and northwestern Florida, where soil moisture and streamflows remain extremely low. Lighter rainfall also overspread the Northeast, which, combined with cooler temperatures helped slow the advancement of drought, and improved drought conditions in Maine. Where lighter accumulations occurred, there was slight expansion of drought and abnormal dryness across portions of the mid-Atlantic, Hudson Valley, and southeastern New England. Cooler temperatures and mostly dry weather overspread the Plains and Midwest. While drought conditions continued to expand across the Plains, the drier weather was mostly welcome across the upper Midwest and Corn Belt, allowing fieldwork to progress. Hot, dry weather promoted degradation across Arizona and northwestern Washington, while late season moisture across northern California did little to change the meager snowpack conditions.

Northeast

Light to moderate precipitation overspread the Northeast region during the past week. The highest accumulations fell across Maine, resulting in some modest improvements to drought and abnormal dryness. Elsewhere, accumulations tended to be higher along and west of the mountains, and lighter (less than 0.5 inch) across the drought areas of the mid-Atlantic and southern New England. Cooler than average temperatures lowered evapotranspiration rates, which helped to stave off more widespread degradation. Drought indices at multiple time scales, including the SPI, supported drought expansion across the Delmarva peninsula. Abnormal dryness expanded across portions of the Hudson Valley and southeastern Massachusetts, while drought intensified in southeastern New Hampshire.

Southeast

An active weather pattern brought widespread heavy rainfall and thunderstorms to the Deep South, providing a much needed moisture boost to drought stricken areas. Total accumulations over the 7-day period topped 2 inches across much of Mississippi and Alabama, southern Georgia, and the western Florida Panhandle, and in some locations were significantly higher. The rainfall eased drought conditions across portions of Mississippi and northern Alabama, though widespread severe to exceptional drought continues. While beneficial, the rainfall did little more than stabilize conditions further east, across much of Georgia and northern Florida, where soil moisture and streamflows remain very low. No change in the drought depiction occurred in these regions, and more sustained rainfall would be needed to begin easing drought conditions. Lighter precipitation fell across the Florida peninsula, where drought conditions slowly expanded. Drought conditions remained stable in South Carolina, but drier conditions across North Carolina and Virginia resulted in some expansion of drought and abnormal dryness.

South

Following last week's beneficial rainfall, additional rain overspread much of Texas and Louisiana over the last several days, sparking additional drought reductions. Rainfall across central and western Texas eased drought across the upper Rio Grande Valley as well. Despite the beneficial rainfall, widespread severe to exceptional drought continues across the South Region, and it will take a sustained series of heavy precipitation events to begin any widespread easing of impacts. The beneficial rainfall missed the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma, where poor conditions continue to affect rangeland and winter wheat. Drought conditions also expanded across Arkansas.

Midwest

Following a period of sustained wetness across the region, drier conditions overspread the Midwest over the last 7 days. Unseasonable cold reduced evapotranspiration rates, and the pause in precipitation was mostly welcome for fieldwork activities that were delayed by the frequent storm systems. Impacts from drought and abnormal dryness eased across northern Minnesota and along the southern Indiana and Illinois border. Slight degradations were noted across southeastern Missouri and right along the Ohio River in south-central Indiana, as these regions missed out on some of the prior precipitation.

High Plains

Light to moderate precipitation overspread much of the High Plains, with the heaviest accumulations (0.5 - 1.5 inch) falling across central Colorado, including late season snow across the higher elevations. This precipitation resulted in some drought reduction across central Colorado. Across the rest of the Plains, however, the moisture was not sufficient to engender substantive improvements. Despite cooler temperatures lowering evapotranspiration rates, some degradation occurred across Kansas and Nebraska, and far western North Dakota.

West

Outside of northern California, where late season moisture provided a boost to short-term streamflows and soil moisture but did little to change the unusually low snow cover across the northern Sierras, seasonably dry weather overspread most of the West. Recent moisture eased drought conditions across far western Montana. While little change to the drought depiction occurred across the West, hot, dry conditions exacerbated impacts across Arizona, resulting in some substantial degradation. Short term dryness also increased across northwestern Washington, resulting in expansion of D0.

Caribbean

No drought or abnormal dryness is currently in place across Puerto Rico. Some portions of the island have been experiencing drier conditions in recent weeks, and will have to be monitored into the early summer months.

Little to no precipitation fell across the U.S. Virgin Islands this week. St. Croix recorded between 0.13 inches to trace amounts. Similarly, St. John recorded 0.3 inches and St. Thomas recorded only trace amounts of rain. The Adventure 28 Well (St. Croix) recorded water depth of 20.72 ft. as of this week. This is 0.2 feet lower compared to last week and 3.56 feet lower compared to last year. The Susannaberg DPW 3 Well (St. John) recorded a water depth of 13.44 feet as of this week. This is 0.2 feet lower compared to last week and 3.63 feet lower compared to last year. The Grade School 3 Well (St. Thomas) has a water depth of 7.64 feet as of this week. This is 1.7 feet lower than last week and 2.77 feet lower compared to last year. Despite little-to-no rainfall, short-term SPI values are showing mostly neutral conditions, leaving all islands free of abnormal dryness or drought.

Pacific

Following above-normal precipitation across much of the state during April, coverage of abnormal dryness reduced across much of Alaska. Some D0 remains in the Kenai peninsula and the vicinity of Anchorage, where orographic effects reduced the amount of precipitation that fell.

Conditions across Hawaii's Big Island continue to improve, and vegetation has greened up over the past few weeks. Based on this assessment, the small remaining area of moderate drought was removed.

Rain was mixed across the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The islands of Jaluit and Majuro received adequate rainfall with 4.32 and 2.06 inches of rain this week, respectively. Kwajalein and Ailingalapalap saw 1.82 and 1.98 inches respectively, while Utirik, Wotje and Mili received less than half an inch of rain this week (0.31”, 0.3” and 0,1”). Despite some islands receiving little precipitation, decent precipitation during the prior weeks kept all islands free of abnormal dryness or drought.

The Federated States of Micronesia received heavy precipitation across most island, with some islands experiencing over 4 inches of precipitation. This heavy precipitation led to Lukunor abnormally dry conditions being improved to no dryness. Ulithi received 0.78 inches of rain this week and remains in abnormal dryness. Yap, despite receiving 4.39 inches of rain, remains in abnormal dryness due to poor precipitation over the previous weeks. Woleai (1.42”), Chuuk Lagoon (5.7”), Nukuoro (5.28”), Kapingamarangi (2.56”), Pohnpei (5.4”) and Kosrae (5.51”) all remain free of abnormal dryness.

The Republic of Palau remains abnormally dry with Koror recording 1.4 inches of rain this week following a dry April.

The Marianas Islands saw a mix of light and moderate precipitation this week. Guam saw a mix of decent to good precipitation with Dededo recording 0.31 inches, Agat with 1.62 inches and the airport 1.40 inches of rain this week. Saipan and Rota received 0.51 and 0.32 inches respectively. While the prior two weeks saw poor precipitation, well above normal precipitation from the typhoon has mitigated some of this dryness though Rota still has several weeks with missing data. Tinian data is missing.

American Samoa experienced wet week, with Pago Pago receiving 3.45 inches of rain. Additionally, the Siufaga and Toa Ridge received 2.64 inches and 2.62 inches of rain this week, respectively. American Samoa will remain free of drought and dryness.

Looking Ahead

During the next 7 days, an active pattern is favored to continue across the Southeast, with heavy rainfall (2 - 7 inches) possible along a swath from eastern Texas through southern Alabama. These rains would continue to bring drought relief and also a threat of severe weather. Lesser accumulations are favored across Georgia and Florida, which may limit the extent of any improvements. Widespread precipitation is also favored along the Ohio Valley and across the eastern seaboard, with the greatest potential for relief across the Northeast. Somewhat drier conditions across the mid-Atlantic may limit the potential for drought improvement. Light accumulations forecast across the Plains may do little to ease drought conditions, while another week of seasonable dryness is forecast across the West. Above-average temperatures across the West favor an acceleration of snowmelt, which may bring short term reservoir boosts but leaves the water supply even more short as summer approaches. Below-average temperatures are favored for the eastern half of the CONUS.

During the 8-14 day period, above-average temperatures are favored for much of the lower-48, with near normal temperatures forecast for the Northeast. Above-average precipitation is forecast for the southern tier, with the highest probabilities across Texas, eastern New Mexico, and Louisiana. A slight tilt towards above-normal precipitation extends across the Great Lakes Region into the Northeast, while below-average precipitation is favored for the northern Rockies.

Farmer Sentiment Declines in April Amid Input Costs and Availability Concerns

Farmer sentiment dropped in April as the Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer (AEB) Index declined from 127 in March to 121. The Current Conditions Index fell by 11 points, while the Future Expectations Index decreased by 4 points. This month’s Future Expectations Index was 16 points below last year’s December index and 28 points below last year’s April index. The percentage of respondents who listed high input costs as their biggest concern remained at 46% this month, while the percentage who listed input availability as their biggest concern increased from 11% to 14%. The percentage of respondents who think the U.S. is headed in the “right direction” and who expect land prices to be higher five years from now also decreased. The April barometer survey was conducted among 400 farmers across the nation from April 13–17, 2026.  

Only 15% of respondents indicated that their farm operations were better off in April than they had been a year ago. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, 28% expected worse financial performance, compared with 25% who expected better financial performance. The Farm Capital Investment Index fell 9 points to 44, its lowest level since October 2024, indicating a decline in willingness to make large investments.

This month’s survey included questions related to the impact of the Iran conflict on net farm income and corn breakeven prices in 2026. Approximately two-thirds of the respondents expected their net farm income to decline in 2026 due to the Iran conflict, which began in late February and affected fertilizer and natural gas prices worldwide.

Among respondents who planted corn in 2025, approximately one-half expected corn breakeven prices to increase by up to 6%, 14% expected breakeven prices to increase 6% to 9%, and 37% expected breakeven prices to increase 10% or more.

Periodically, the monthly survey includes questions pertaining to a farm’s competitive position and its ability to manage strategic risk. This month’s survey asked respondents how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: We have low per-unit fixed costs relative to our most efficient peers. Approximately 58% of respondents agreed with this statement, with 9% indicating that they strongly agreed.

The Short-Term Farmland Value Expectations Index decreased from 125 to 121, and the long-term index decreased from 159 in March to 155 in April. Alternative investments, interest rates, and inflation were cited as the three factors having the greatest influence on farmland values.

As in the last few months, producers were asked whether the U.S. is headed in the “right direction” or on the “wrong track.” The percentage of producers who reported that the U.S. is headed in the “right direction” fell from 65% in March to 57% in April.

Wrapping Up

Farmer sentiment decreased from 127 in March to 121 in April. The decline in sentiment regarding current conditions was larger than the corresponding decline in sentiment related to future expectations. The percentage of producers who expected good times in the next five years was 37% in April, which is 19% lower than the April 2025 survey report. There continues to be a large disparity in expectations between crop and livestock producers. Approximately 31% of respondents expected good times for crop producers, while 69% expected good times for livestock producers.

Concerns about input costs remained high, and a higher percentage of respondents indicated that input availability is a major concern, likely driven by the uncertainty the Iran conflict has caused in fertilizer markets. A lower percentage of respondents indicated that U.S. policy is headed in the “right direction”, along with a lower percentage expecting land values to increase in the next five years, pointing to less optimism regarding long-run sentiment.