USDA Crop Progress - Corn 67% Good to Excellent, Soybeans 67% Good to Excellent as of June 30

OMAHA (DTN) -- Corn conditions fell for the fourth consecutive week last week, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress on Monday. The crop's good-to-excellent rating has now dropped 8 percentage points from its initial rating of 75% good to excellent.

CORN

-- Crop development: Corn silking was pegged at 11%, 4 percentage points ahead of last year's 7% and 5 points ahead of the five-year average of 6%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 67% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition, down 2 points from 69% the previous week but still ahead of last year's 51%. Nine percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor, up 2 points from 7% the previous week but lower than 15% last year. "Iowa corn is rated 73% good to excellent, and Illinois is at 65% good to excellent," noted DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

SOYBEANS

-- Crop development: 95% of soybeans had emerged as of Sunday, 2 points behind last year's 97% but 2 points ahead of the five-year average of 93%. Soybeans blooming was pegged at 20%, equal to last year but 5 points ahead of the five-year average of 15%. Soybeans setting pods was estimated at 3%, also equal to last year and near the five-year average of 2%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 67% of soybeans were in good-to-excellent condition, unchanged from the previous week but still well above 50% last year. "Sixty-four percent of soybeans in Illinois were rated good to excellent, while Iowa was at 72% and Minnesota was at 62%," Hultman said.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Harvest progress: Harvest maintained a steady pace last week, moving ahead 14 percentage points to reach 54% complete nationwide as of Sunday. That was 21 points ahead of last year's 33% and 15 points ahead of the five-year average pace of 39%. "Kansas winter wheat is 80% harvested, much quicker than average, and Illinois is 89% harvested, much further along than its five-year average of 49% for this date," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini. "Arkansas is 94% done, Missouri 92% and Oklahoma 95% -- all well ahead of average."

-- Crop condition: 51% of the crop remaining in fields was rated in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 point from 52% the previous week and still up considerably from 40% a year ago.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Crop development: 38% of spring wheat was headed, 7 percentage points behind last year's 45% but slightly ahead of the five-year average of 37%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 72% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition nationwide, up 1 percentage point from 71% the previous week. That remains ahead of last year's rating of 48% good to excellent. "The good-to-excellent rating for North Dakota rose 6 percentage points to 78%, while South Dakota jumped 3 percentage points to 81%," Mantini said. "Minnesota had the highest rating of 86% -- up 5% on the week."

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

Two forecast storm systems will likely bring widespread rain to the Corn Belt this week -- good news for thirsty crops but possibly bad news for Fourth of July celebrations on Thursday, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"It's another active week across the Corn Belt," Baranick said. "We should see two solid storm systems move through the northern tier of the U.S. or southern Canada this week, and their cold fronts will sweep through the Corn Belt. It may take a couple of days to get into the Eastern Corn Belt, but widespread precipitation is expected this week, quite possibly ruining the fireworks celebrations for millions of us.

"A couple more disturbances will move through this weekend with more showers and thunderstorms but much less potential for heavy rain. Those in the heavily saturated areas in the northwestern Corn Belt probably do not like the forecast, but those that are across the southern and Eastern Corn Belt probably do.

"Last week's Drought Monitor showed a widespread increase in drought across the Eastern Corn Belt, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, but many of these areas have seen rain since, which should be beneficial, and we should see more this week.

"Temperatures will be moderate or even cool in the Northern Plains this week, while it remains much hotter across the South and Southeast where we could see some triple-digit readings. Areas in between should see temperatures waffling around as systems pass through, but nothing extreme is in the forecast for this week."

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Silking	11	4	7	6
Soybeans Emerged	95	90	97	93
Soybeans Blooming	20	8	20	15
Soybeans Setting Pods	3	NA	3	2
Winter Wheat Harvested	54	40	33	39
Spring Wheat Headed	38	18	45	37
Cotton Planted	97	94	98	99
Cotton Squaring	43	30	38	38
Cotton Setting Bolls	11	8	9	9
Sorghum Planted	96	90	90	94
Sorghum Headed	19	17	20	20
Sorghum Coloring	12	NA	11	11
Oats Headed	74	61	76	71
Barley Headed	38	12	32	38
Rice Headed	18	13	18	13

**

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	3	6	24	52	15		2	5	24	55	14		4	11	34	43	8
Soybeans	2	6	25	55	12		2	6	25	56	11		4	11	35	44	6
Winter Wheat	5	10	34	41	10		5	10	33	42	10		12	17	31	34	6
Spring Wheat	1	3	24	61	11		1	3	25	64	7		3	9	40	46	2
Sorghum	3	5	34	50	8		2	4	33	54	7		2	6	37	49	6
Cotton	8	9	33	44	6		5	9	30	51	5		7	14	31	41	7
Rice	1	2	15	67	15		1	1	15	67	16		1	4	25	59	11
Oat	6	5	22	57	10		6	5	22	57	10		7	9	39	42	3
Barley	1	4	31	60	4		1	2	29	65	3		1	6	42	49	2