USDA Crop Progress - Corn, Soybeans Rated 68% Good to Excellent as of July 7

OMAHA (DTN) -- Corn and soybean good-to-excellent condition ratings rose slightly for the first time in several weeks last week, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

Both crops were also further along in their reproductive stages than the five-year averages as of the end of last week, NASS said.

CORN

-- Crop development: Corn silking was pegged at 24%, 6 percentage points ahead of last year's 18% and 10 points ahead of the five-year average of 14%. Corn in the dough stage was estimated at 3%, slightly ahead of both last year and the five-year average of 2%. "It is interesting to note that Illinois is 39% silked versus the 16% average, and Kansas and Missouri are well ahead of average at 47% and 60%, respectively," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 68% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition, up 1 point from 67% the previous week and still well ahead of last year's 55%. Nine percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor, unchanged from the previous week and lower than 14% last year. "Iowa corn is rated 76% good to excellent, and Illinois is at 67% good to excellent, an improvement for both states, and Nebraska's corn is rated 80% good to excellent," Mantini noted. "Notable is that North Carolina corn is rated at just 12% good to excellent and 73% poor to very poor."

SOYBEANS

-- Crop development: Soybeans blooming was pegged at 34%, 1 point behind last year's 35% but 6 points ahead of the five-year average of 28%. Soybeans setting pods were estimated at 9%, slightly ahead of last year's 8% and 4 points ahead of the five-year average of 5%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 68% of soybeans were in good-to-excellent condition, up 1 percentage point from 67% the previous week and above last year's rating of 51% good to excellent. "Sixty-six percent of soybeans in Illinois were rated good to excellent, while Iowa was at 76% and Nebraska is at 77% good to excellent," Mantini said.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Harvest progress: Harvest slowed last week, moving ahead 9 percentage points to reach 63% complete nationwide as of Sunday. That was 20 points ahead of last year's 43% and 11 points ahead of the five-year average pace of 52%. "Kansas' winter wheat is 92% harvested, and Nebraska is at 28%," noted DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. "Illinois is at 93% harvested, and Indiana is 84%. Harvest in Montana has not yet started."

SPRING WHEAT

-- Crop development: 59% of spring wheat was headed, 7 percentage points behind last year's 66% and 1 point behind the five-year average of 60%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 75% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition nationwide, up 3 percentage points from 72% the previous week. That remains well ahead of last year's rating of 47% good to excellent. "Minnesota and North Dakota still have the two highest good-to-excellent spring wheat ratings, while the crop in Washington has the lowest rating, at 56%," Hultman said.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

The remnants of Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall along the Texas coast on Monday, will bring some much-needed rain to dry areas of the Eastern Corn Belt this week, according to DTN Meteorologist Teresa Wells.

"Remnants of Hurricane Beryl will provide a swath of heavy rain from the Southern Delta into the Ohio Valley through Wednesday with some portions of southern Missouri, southern Illinois, and Indiana forecast to receive at least 1-2 inches of rain," Wells said. "This rainfall should benefit some areas in the southern and Eastern Corn Belt that are in the midst of a drought. In addition to remnants of Beryl moving through the Central and Eastern U.S., below-average temperatures will linger across much of the Plains and Mississippi Valley through late this week.

"Temperatures will start to trend warmer in the Northern Plains late this week with the warmth expected to expand across much of the north-central U.S. by the upcoming weekend as high temperatures get closer to the 80s and low 90s Fahrenheit. Periodic, scattered rain showers and storms will linger in the Midwest and Plains for the second half of this week and this upcoming weekend. However, most of the precipitation will favor the Eastern and Southern Plains and the Central Mississippi Valley."

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Silking	24	11	18	14
Corn Dough	3	NA	2	2
Soybeans Blooming	34	20	35	28
Soybeans Setting Pods	9	3	8	5
Winter Wheat Harvested	63	54	43	52
Spring Wheat Headed	59	38	66	60
Cotton Squaring	52	43	51	50
Cotton Setting Bolls	19	11	15	15
Sorghum Headed	23	19	24	24
Sorghum Coloring	13	12	14	14
Oats Headed	83	74	84	82
Barley Headed	56	38	56	59
Rice Headed	31	18	27	20

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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
Corn	3	6	23	52	16		3	6	24	52	15		4	10	31	45	10
Soybeans	2	6	24	55	13		2	6	25	55	12		4	11	34	44	7
Spring Wheat	1	3	21	65	10		1	3	24	61	11		4	12	37	45	2
Sorghum	3	7	31	46	13		3	5	34	50	8		3	7	35	47	8
Cotton	10	13	32	37	8		8	9	33	44	6		9	16	27	41	7
Rice	1	2	16	64	17		1	2	15	67	15		1	3	20	61	15
Oat	6	5	22	56	11		6	5	22	57	10		6	9	38	43	4
Barley	-	3	27	64	6		1	4	31	60	4		2	7	39	47	5