USDA Crop Progress Report - Corn, Soybeans Both Rated 59% Good to Excellent Week Ended Aug. 13

OMAHA (DTN) -- Another week of mostly beneficial weather boosted national crop condition ratings for both corn and soybeans for a second week in a row, USDA-NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

CORN

-- Crop progress: 96% of corn was silking as of Sunday, Aug. 13, 3 percentage points ahead of 93% last year but now equal to the five-year average. Corn in the dough stage was pegged at 65%, 5 percentage points ahead of last year and 2 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 63%. An estimated 18% of corn was dented, 3 points ahead of last year but equal to the five-year average.

-- Crop condition: Nationally, corn was rated 59% good to excellent, up another 2 percentage points from 57% the previous week and now slightly above 57% a year ago at this time. "The good-to-excellent rating increased from 58% to 64% in Illinois and dropped just slightly from 59% to 58% in Iowa," noted DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

SOYBEANS

-- Crop progress: 94% of soybeans were blooming, 2 percentage points ahead of 92% last year and 2 points ahead of the five-year average of 92%. Soybeans setting pods were pegged at 78%, 6 percentage points ahead of last year's 72% and 3 points ahead of the average of 75%.

-- Crop condition: Soybeans were rated 59% good to excellent as of Sunday, up 5 percentage points from 54% last week and now slightly above 58% a year ago at this time. "The good-to-excellent rating for Illinois increased from 58% to 70% and from 53% to 58% for Iowa," Hultman said.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Harvest progress: Winter wheat harvest inched along last week, moving ahead another 5 points to reach 92% completed as of Sunday. This year's harvest is now equal to the five-year average pace. "The laggards are Colorado at 49% and Montana and Washington at 70% complete," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Harvest progress: The spring wheat harvest picked up speed, moving ahead 13 percentage points last week to reach 24% completed as of Sunday. That was 4 percentage points behind the five-year average of 28%. "Minnesota's spring wheat harvest is 28% done, while North Dakota is at 13% harvested," Mantini said.

-- Crop condition: USDA said 42% of the spring wheat crop was rated good to excellent as of Aug. 6, up 1 percentage point from last week's 41% but still below 64% a year ago. "The spring wheat crop in North Dakota was 42% in good-to-excellent condition, and Minnesota's was at 48% good to excellent, while South Dakota and Washington are the worst rated, at 30% and 27% good to excellent, respectively," Mantini said.

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Following the past several weeks of beneficial rains and lower temperatures, hotter, drier weather will creep up from the South into the Midwest later this week, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"We've had a really good run of weather over the last six weeks or so," Baranick said. "It hasn't been perfect, and not all areas of the country have benefited, but the majority have. That continues early this week with a system still going through the Eastern Corn Belt with areas of scattered showers and some heavy rain for Wisconsin that has been on the lower end of the rainfall turnaround since late June. But after this system moves through, it should get pretty quiet. A front will still move through the Midwest with some scattered showers and thunderstorms Wednesday night through Thursday night, but amounts are likely to be limited.

"The quieter weather comes courtesy of a heat ridge across the south that has been boiling Texas and the Gulf Coast states for weeks that will be spreading northward later this week and weekend. We'll see heat start to move into the Plains by late week and over the eastern Midwest this weekend. While not overly extreme, the heat will deplete soil moisture as crops continue to fill out. The good news is that there has been so much rainfall on the southern end of the Corn Belt that the current soil moisture is likely to be enough to sustain the heat for the coming week. That's not the case farther north, but we'll see a front dip down into the northern parts of the country this weekend and that may be the focus for some showers next week."