USDA Crop Progress Report - Corn 45% Harvested, Soybeans 62% Harvested as of Oct. 15

OMAHA (DTN) -- The nation's soybean harvest jumped to a 10-point lead over the five-year average, and the corn harvest also remained slightly ahead of the average pace by the end of last week as farmers in some areas rushed to get in as much fieldwork as they could ahead of heavy rains, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

CORN

-- Crop progress: NASS estimated that 95% of corn was mature as of Sunday, Oct. 15, 2 percentage points ahead of last year's 93% and 3 points ahead of the five-year average of 92%.

-- Harvest progress: Corn harvest moved ahead another 11 percentage points last week to reach 45% complete as of Sunday. That is 2 percentage points ahead of 43% last year and 3 percentage points ahead of 42% for the five-year average. "Iowa's corn crop is 72% harvested and 20 points above average, while Illinois is 52% done," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini. "Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio are lagging, ranging from 14% to 17% harvested."

-- Crop condition: NASS said 53% of corn was rated good to excellent, unchanged for the third week in a row. The current rating is equal to last year's rating at this time and is the lowest good-to-excellent rating since 2012.

SOYBEANS

-- Crop progress: 97% of the crop was dropping leaves, 2 percentage points ahead of last year's 95% and 4 points ahead of the five-year average of 93%.

-- Harvest progress: Soybean harvest jumped 19 percentage points last week to reach 62% complete as of Sunday. That is 2 points ahead of last year's 60% but 10 points ahead of the five-year average of 52%. "Iowa's soybean crop is 74% harvested, Illinois is 61%, with Nebraska at 70% and Minnesota 76% harvested," Mantini said.

-- Crop condition: USDA said 52% of the soybean crop was rated good to excellent, back up 1 point from 51% the previous week and below 57% a year ago. The current rating is the lowest good-to-excellent rating since 2012.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Planting progress: Winter wheat planting advanced 11 percentage points last week to reach 68% complete as of Sunday. That is 1 point ahead of last year's 67% but equal to the five-year average. "Kansas' winter wheat is 70% planted, 2 points above the five-year average pace," Mantini noted.

-- Crop progress: 39% of the crop had emerged as of Sunday, 3 points ahead of last year's 36% but 4 points behind the five-year average of 43%.

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Harvest is likely to be on hold for areas of the Corn Belt that received rain last week and this past weekend and could remain stalled for a while with more rain in the forecast for this week and next week, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"Heavy rain fell over a large portion of the Corn Belt last week and weekend, which will undoubtedly delay harvest and other activities for a while," Baranick said. "Some areas will have to deal with more rain this week as a system moves from the Northern Plains to the Southeast Tuesday through Friday. This system will be much less impressive, with most areas seeing little or only light rain. But there will be pockets of heavier rain in there.

"The southwestern Plains were left out from the storm, dealing with some strong winds at times instead. Soil moisture has been falling there lately. The system this week will pass by to the north and east, leaving it dry for another week.

"The weather pattern looks a lot more active for next week, though, and heavy rain could be widespread, especially in the Plains, which may help to moisten soils for winter wheat establishment but cause more harvest delays."