USDA Crop Progress - Corn 36% Planted, Soybeans 25% Planted as of May 5

OMAHA (DTN) -- Corn planting progress fell behind the five-year average pace last week for the first time this season, while soybean planting continued ahead of the average pace, USDA NASS said in its latest weekly Crop Progress report released on Monday.

CORN

-- Planting progress: Corn planting moved ahead 9 percentage points last week to reach 36% complete nationwide as of Sunday, May 5. That is 6 percentage points behind last year's 42% and 3 points behind the five-year average of 39%. "Iowa's corn crop is 47% planted, Illinois is at 32%, Minnesota is at 42% and Nebraska is at 31%," noted DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

-- Crop development: 12% of corn was emerged as of Sunday, 2 points ahead of last year and 3 points ahead of the five-year average of 9%.

SOYBEANS

-- Planting progress: 25% of soybeans were planted nationwide as of Sunday. That is 5 percentage points behind last year's pace of 30% but is 4 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 21%. "Illinois' soybean crop is 31% planted, Iowa is at 30% and Missouri is at 30%," Hultman said.

-- Crop development: 9% of soybeans had emerged as of Sunday, 2 points ahead of last year and 5 points ahead of the five-year average of 4%.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Crop development: 43% of winter wheat was headed as of Sunday. That is 9 points ahead of 34% at this time last year and 11 points ahead of the five-year average of 32%.

-- Crop condition: 50% of the crop was rated in good-to-excellent condition, back up 1 point from 49% the previous week and up significantly from 29% a year ago. Sixteen percent of the winter wheat crop was rated very poor to poor. "Kansas had the highest very-poor-to-poor rating of 33%, down from 68% a year ago," Hultman said.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Planting progress: 47% of spring wheat was planted as of Sunday, 26 points ahead of 21% last year and 16 points ahead of the five-year average of 31%. "North Dakota's spring wheat crop is 32% planted, well above its five-year average of 20% for this time of year," Hultman noted.

-- Crop development: 12% of spring wheat has emerged, 8 points ahead of 4% last year and 3 points ahead of the five-year average of 9%.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

Rain across the Plains this week could continue to delay planting in some areas, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"Last week's heavy rainfall across a lot of the country has slowed the progress of planting, but we did see some good rain that fell in southwestern Kansas wheat fields over the weekend," Baranick said. "It was too late to make much of a difference in wheat condition ratings, but we should see those stabilize for a little bit. This area needs more rain, though.

"Mother Nature is going to try her best to get more rain through the country this week. A large storm system is moving into the Plains on Monday and is going to produce a significant threat for severe weather. As of early afternoon, this was starting to build in Nebraska and Kansas but should explode with strong thunderstorms from South Dakota to Texas. That rain will continue Tuesday across the Midwest, with more severe storms being possible. Another storm system will move into the Plains on Tuesday night and then through the Midwest on Wednesday and Thursday with more showers and thunderstorms. This keeps soils pretty wet and will be difficult for many areas to go in and plant. That second storm will also bring in some colder air through the country going into the weekend.

"Even with this change in the pattern, it still looks to be an active pattern going into next week. The difference is that the following storm systems will not have much access to moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. A little system will move through the Great Lakes this weekend with some isolated showers. And another may go through the southern tier off the back of a stalled front from the midweek system. The southwestern Plains has some slight chances for precipitation out of this storm system, but it still looks awfully dry for wheat for the next week."

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Planted	36	27	42	39
Corn Emerged	12	7	10	9
Soybeans Planted	25	18	30	21
Soybeans Emerged	9	NA	7	4
Winter Wheat Headed	43	30	34	32
Spring Wheat Planted	47	34	21	31
Spring Wheat Emerged	12	5	4	9
Cotton Planted	24	15	20	20
Sorghum Planted	23	19	23	22
Oats Planted	70	63	57	61
Oats Emerged	49	42	39	42
Barley Planted	47	35	33	44
Barley Emerged	14	6	9	15
Rice Planted	78	72	69	60
Rice Emerged	60	48	50	39

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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	5	11	34	44	6		5	11	35	43	6		20	24	27	25	4
Rice	-	1	18	68	13		NA	NA	NA	NA	NA		-	3	26	56	15