USDA Crop Progress Report - Corn Condition Up 2 Points, Soybean Condition Up 4 Points

OMAHA (DTN) -- U.S. corn and soybean conditions improved again last week, according to USDA NASS' weekly Crop Progress report released Monday. Both crops also continued to mature at a slightly ahead-of-average pace.

CORN

-- Crop progress: 47% of corn was silking, 13 percentage points ahead of 34% last year and 4 points ahead of the five-year average of 43%. Corn in the dough stage was pegged at 7%, slightly ahead of 5% last year and the five-year average rating of 6%.

-- Crop condition: Nationally, corn was rated 57% good to excellent, up 2 percentage points from 55% the previous week but down from 64% a year ago at this time. "Illinois' corn crop is rated 41% good to excellent, and Iowa is 64% good to excellent, while Missouri and Michigan are in the worst shape, at 30% and 40%, respectively," noted DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.

SOYBEANS

-- Crop progress: 56% of soybeans were blooming, 10 percentage points ahead of 46% last year and 5 points ahead of the five-year average of 51%. Soybeans setting pods was pegged at 20%, 7 percentage points ahead of last year's 13% and 3 points ahead of the average of 17%.

-- Crop condition: Soybeans were rated 55% good to excellent as of Sunday, up 4 percentage points from 51% last week but down from 61% a year ago at this time. "Illinois' soybean crop is at 40% good to excellent and Iowa is 58% good to excellent while, again, Missouri and Michigan are rated worst, at 31% and 34%, respectively," Mantini said.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Harvest progress: 56% of the crop was harvested as of Sunday, up 10 points from the previous week but still 13 points behind the five-year average pace of 69%. "Top-producer Kansas was 89% harvested, back on schedule," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. "Washington, the second-largest producer, was just getting started at 6% harvested."

SPRING WHEAT

-- Crop progress: 86% of spring wheat was headed as of Sunday, 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 83%.

-- Crop condition: USDA said 51% of the spring wheat crop was rated good to excellent as of July 16, up 4 percentage points from last week's 47%, but still down from 71% a year ago. "Good-to-excellent ratings for North Dakota gained 9 points to 51%, and Minnesota gained 16 points to 78%," Hultman noted.

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

The Eastern Corn Belt and Northern Plains should see scattered showers and cooler weather the rest of this week, while the Southern Plains is expected to be mostly dry and hot, according to DTN Meteorologist Teresa Deutchman.

"An upper-level trough across the Great Lakes is leading to a slow-moving cold front making its way through the Eastern Corn Belt and Central Mississippi Valley through Wednesday," Deutchman said. "Areas in southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and southern Ohio could see up to 1-2 inches of rainfall through Wednesday night. While the 1-2 inches of forecast rainfall is not looking widespread, it could certainly benefit some of those drier areas in southern Illinois that are currently experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions.

"As the upper-level trough in the Great Lakes weakens through the middle of this week, this will allow a trough from the Canadian Prairies to advance through the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Scattered rain showers and thunderstorms will tag these regions Tuesday through Thursday, but coverage of rainfall is not looking widespread, and I think there will be some locations that stay completely dry in these regions. Temperatures will be near to below normal for the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains this week with more consistent cloud cover keeping daytime high temperatures on the cooler side.

"Looking at the Southern Plains, an upper-level ridge will be the predominant weather feature driving mostly dry and hot conditions to prevail across the region through Friday. A few systems from the Central Plains may try to offer some rain to Oklahoma, but Texas should stay mostly dry. Daytime, high temperatures will consistently approach 100-105 degrees Fahrenheit in central and southern Texas through Friday."