USDA Crop Progress Report - Corn, Soybean Condition Ratings Continue to Fall for Week Ended July 3

OMAHA (DTN) -- U.S. corn and soybean conditions fell again last week as hot, dry weather in parts of the country put stress on crops, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress on Monday.

CORN

-- Crop development: 7% of corn was silking as of Sunday, July 3, according to NASS. That was up just 3 percentage points from the previous week and puts the crop 2 percentage points behind last year and 4 percentage points behind the five-year average.

-- Crop condition: 64% of corn was rated in good-to-excellent condition, down another 3 percentage points from 67% the previous week. The current rating is now equal to a year ago. "Illinois' corn fell 5 points to 65% good to excellent, and Iowa dropped 3 points to 77% good to excellent," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini. "Pennsylvania's corn crop is rated the best at 88% good to excellent, while two of the poorest states are Nebraska and Kentucky, at just 31% and 32% good to excellent, respectively."

SOYBEANS

-- Crop development: 96% of soybeans had emerged nationwide as of Sunday, equal to the five-year average. Sixteen percent of soybeans were blooming, 6 percentage points behind the five-year average of 22%, and 3% of soybeans were setting pods, equal to both last year and the five-year average.

-- Crop condition: 63% of soybeans were rated in good-to-excellent condition, down 2 percentage points from 65% the previous week but still above last year's rating of 59% good to excellent at this time. "Illinois soybeans are at 62%, down from 66% good to excellent, and Iowa is at 77%, down from 80% last week," Mantini said. "Nebraska soybeans are rated at just 41% good to excellent."

WINTER WHEAT

-- Harvest progress: 54% of the crop was harvested as of Sunday, 11 percentage points ahead of last year and 6 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 48%. "Harvests in Kansas and Illinois were 83% and 87% finished, respectively, while harvest has not started yet in South Dakota, Montana or Washington," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

-- Crop condition: 31% of winter wheat remaining in fields was rated good to excellent, up 1 percentage point from the 30% the previous week but below last year's rating of 47%.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Crop development: 20% of the crop was headed, 46 percentage points behind last year's 66% and 37 percentage points behind the five-year average of 57%.

-- Crop condition: 66% of the crop was rated in good-to-excellent condition, up 7 percentage points from 59% the previous week and well above last year's rating of 16%. "The biggest percentage-point gains in spring wheat condition from last week were plus 13 points in Minnesota, plus 8 points in Montana and plus 7 points in North Dakota," Hultman said.

OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FIELD

Last week, we asked farmers to send us comments about how their crops are looking. Below are some of the responses we received via email and in the comments sections of the DTN/Progressive Farmer Facebook and Twitter pages.

-- Southwest Iowa: "Desperate for some rain in SW IA. Last significant rain was early June which also brought hail wiping out all my beans. Some of the original May beans are there. Some of the replants germinated in June. But others have been waiting for a rain and will be coming up in July (hopefully)," Dan Rosener commented on the DTN/Progressive Farmer Facebook page on Sunday, July 3.

-- Southwest Minnesota: "Dry dry dry! Need rain in a week. Starting to take its toll," Paul Arends said in an email to DTN on Thursday, June 30.

-- Indiana: "Indiana needs rain too. Muck is cracking. Pivots running hard. We've already watered twice in June and I know others have ran theirs 4 times," Chris Gardner commented on the DTN/Progressive Farmer Facebook page on Sunday, July 3.