USDA Crop Progress - Corn Rated 69% Good to Excellent, Soybeans 67% Good to Excellent as of June 23

OMAHA (DTN) -- Heavy rain in the northwestern part of the Corn Belt and hot, dry conditions across the southern and Eastern Corn Belt took a toll on crop conditions last week, as ratings for both corn and soybeans fell from levels the previous week, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress on Monday.

CORN

-- Crop development: 97% of corn had emerged as of Sunday, 1 point behind last year's 98% and 1 point ahead of the five-year average of 96%. Corn silking was pegged at 4%, 1 percentage point ahead of both last year and the five-year average of 3%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 69% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition, down 3 points from 72% the previous week but still ahead of last year's 50%. Seven percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor, up 2 points from 5% the previous week but lower than 15% last year. "Seventy-seven percent of the crop in Iowa is considered good to excellent, Illinois is at 62% and Minnesota is at 65% good to excellent, with South Dakota at 72% good to excellent," noted DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.

SOYBEANS

-- Planting progress: Soybean planting moved ahead 4 points last week to reach 97% complete as of Sunday. That was 2 percentage points behind last year's 99% but 2 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 95%.

-- Crop development: 90% of soybeans had emerged as of Sunday, 5 points behind last year's 95% but 3 points ahead of the five-year average of 87%. Soybeans blooming were pegged at 8%, equal to last year but 2 points ahead of the five-year average of 6%. "Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi are leading the pack at 48% to 55% blooming," Mantini said.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 67% of soybeans that had emerged were in good-to-excellent condition, down 3 points from 70% the previous week but still well above 51% last year. "The good-to-excellent soybean rating was only 59% in Illinois, still 74% in Iowa and 79% in Nebraska," Mantini said. "Minnesota is at 66%, and South Dakota at 72% good to excellent."

WINTER WHEAT

-- Crop development: 97% of winter wheat was headed as of Sunday. That was 1 point ahead of 96% at this time last year and 2 points ahead of the five-year average of 95%.

-- Harvest progress: Harvest slowed a little last week, moving ahead 13 percentage points to reach 40% complete nationwide as of Sunday. That was 19 points ahead of last year's 21% and 15 points ahead of the five-year average pace of 25%. "Kansas winter wheat is 53% harvested, much quicker than usual, while Nebraska is just getting started at 2% harvested," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. "Illinois is 72% harvested, much further along than its five-year average of 34% for this date."

-- Crop condition: 52% of the crop remaining in fields was rated in good-to-excellent condition, up 3 points from 49% the previous week and still up considerably from 40% a year ago.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Crop development: 18% of spring wheat was headed, 7 percentage points behind last year's 25% but equal to the five-year average.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 71% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition nationwide, down 5 points from 76% the previous week. That is still ahead of last year's rating of 50% good to excellent. "The good-to-excellent rating for North Dakota fell 10 percentage points to 72%, while the same rating for South Dakota jumped 10 percentage points to 78%," Hultman noted. "Minnesota had the highest rating of 81%."

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

Some crop areas will get some relief later this week from either the wet or hot-and-dry weather they have been experiencing, while other won't, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"Last week's heavy rain in the northwestern Corn Belt will probably aggravate crop conditions for the next few weeks," Baranick said. "Meanwhile, hot and dry conditions across the southern and Eastern Corn Belt produced some areas of flash drought as well as into the Delta and Southeast. Some areas will get some relief from the weather, others will see it exacerbate.

"We'll get a different setup from the upper-level pattern this week, with the ridge that was in the East last week now in the West and Plains. That is causing some significant heat there early this week. The ridge will shift to the east for late week and anchor itself into the Southeast by the weekend, likely continuing through next week. Going around the ridge will be several disturbances, moving through every couple of days. The storm track will be more through Canada, but the cold fronts will sag through a lot of the Corn Belt. We have one doing so early this week. We should find another doing so late this week and weekend, and then another for early next week. The good news is that these fronts will be moving instead of being stalled out like they were last week. That should keep showers moving through wet northwestern areas with light to moderate rain, and then getting them into the southern and Eastern Corn Belt instead of allowing the heat to build there. Each system and front is forecast to do this, with varying degrees of rainfall. Expect forecasts to change in that regard, but widespread showers and thunderstorms should be expected.

"But across the Southern Plains through the Southeast, these fronts are less likely to penetrate or produce much in terms of precipitation while temperatures remain high, causing heat stress and for additional areas to be considered for flash drought development. Temperatures across the northern tier will waffle back and forth with the systems moving through, and a shot of cold air could be significant for the Northern Plains this weekend. Frost may be possible in some areas near the border."

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Emerged	97	93	98	96
Corn Silking	4	NA	3	3
Soybeans Planted	97	93	99	95
Soybeans Emerged	90	82	95	87
Soybeans Blooming	8	NA	8	6
Winter Wheat Headed	97	94	96	95
Winter Wheat Harvested	40	27	21	25
Spring Wheat Headed	18	4	25	18
Cotton Planted	94	90	93	96
Cotton Squaring	30	22	25	28
Cotton Setting Bolls	8	6	4	5
Sorghum Planted	90	80	82	87
Sorghum Headed	17	15	16	17
Oats Headed	61	50	67	58
Barley Emerged	95	88	97	98
Barley Headed	12	4	17	19
Rice Headed	13	6	10	8

**

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
Corn	2	5	24	55	14		1	4	23	57	15		4	11	35	42	8
Soybeans	2	6	25	56	11		1	4	25	58	12		3	11	35	45	6
Winter Wheat	5	10	33	42	10		6	11	34	40	9		11	17	32	33	7
Spring Wheat	1	3	25	64	7		1	3	20	68	8		3	9	38	48	2
Sorghum	2	4	33	54	7		2	5	35	51	7		2	6	35	50	7
Cotton	5	9	30	51	5		2	11	33	47	7		6	12	33	43	6
Rice	1	1	15	67	16		1	2	14	67	16		1	3	26	56	14
Oat	6	5	22	57	10		6	5	22	57	10		7	10	39	40	4
Barley	1	2	29	65	3		-	1	24	72	3		1	5	48	44	2