OMAHA (DTN) -- The nation's winter wheat crop is starting the 2025 growing season in worse shape than last year's crop, according to USDA NASS.
In its first weekly national Crop Progress report of 2025 released on Monday, NASS estimated U.S. winter wheat condition at 48% good to excellent, 8 points below 56% at the same time last year. The crop's current rating is also down 7 points from the 55% good-to-excellent rating in the final Crop Progress report of 2024 before the crop went into dormancy, according to DTN Lead Analyst Rhett Montgomery.
WINTER WHEAT
-- Crop condition: An estimated 21% of winter wheat was rated poor to very poor as of April 6, up from 12% a year ago, according to NASS. Texas' crop had the highest very-poor-to-poor rating at 40%. That was followed by South Dakota with a 38% very-poor-to-poor rating and Nebraska with a 33% very-poor-to-poor rating. Top winter-wheat-producer Kansas' crop was rated 51% good to excellent, 32% fair and 17% very poor to poor. Oklahoma's crop was rated 42% good to excellent, and Washington's crop was rated 65% good to excellent.
-- Crop development: 5% of winter wheat was headed nationwide as of Sunday. That's 1 percentage point behind last year's 6% but equal to the five-year average. Texas' winter wheat was 23% headed, behind last year's 26% and behind the state's average pace of 27%.
CORN
-- Planting progress: 2% of corn was planted nationwide as of Sunday, 1 point behind 3% last year but equal to the five-year average. Most corn planting took place in Texas, which was 59% complete -- equal to last year and 1 point ahead of the five-year average of 58%.
SPRING WHEAT
-- Planting progress: 3% of the crop was planted nationwide as of April 6, equal to both last year's pace and the five-year average. Washington's crop was 12% planted, 7 points behind last year and 13 points behind the five-year average of 25%.
THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER
The forecast for the coming week highlights diverse weather challenges across the U.S., including drought in some regions, flooding from recent heavy rains in others and varying conditions affecting crop planting and development, with a mix of dry and wet weather expected in the coming week.
"For the first full crop progress report of the season, we're dealing with a lot of weather issues in the country right now," said DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick. "Drought has been a background feature this winter and early spring in a lot of the Plains, Midwest and portions of the southeast as the main storm track moved from the southeastern Plains up through the Ohio Valley. To put an exclamation mark on that statement, we saw widespread flooding from a five-day rainstorm that brought severe weather and massive amounts of rain to that area over the last week. Large areas from Arkansas up through western Kentucky saw more than 10 inches of rainfall, and that will take a lot of time to work through the system. Other areas saw needed rainfall, though, and drought reduction was likely across portions of the Plains and Midwest.
"Though planting shouldn't be all that advanced, the previous rainfall should have helped build soil moisture for those that go out and plant over the next week. But western Kansas did not see much precipitation, and drought has been building here over the last several weeks. A dry forecast would not be welcomed for winter wheat development.
"However, much of the Plains will be drier this week with temperatures increasing into the 80s Fahrenheit by the weekend. Eastern areas will be colder, and soil temperatures and moisture levels will likely be inadequate for a lot of planting to get done this week. It should be drier in many areas, but a small disturbance will bring scattered showers through the Northern Plains on Tuesday, diving into the Southeast by Thursday night. The scattered nature of the showers will mean not a lot of accumulation. Most areas should see less than half of an inch, but where the rain falls over soaked areas, it will lead to slower recovery from flooding, which should take several weeks."
| National Crop Progress Summary | ||||
| This | Last | Last | 5-Year | |
| Week | Week | Year | Avg. | |
| Corn Planted | 2 | NA | 3 | 2 |
| Winter Wheat Headed | 5 | NA | 6 | 5 |
| Spring Wheat Planted | 3 | NA | 3 | 3 |
| Cotton Planted | 4 | NA | 5 | 6 |
| Sorghum Planted | 13 | NA | 13 | 14 |
| Oats Planted | 31 | NA | 33 | 28 |
| Oats Emerged | 25 | NA | 26 | 23 |
| Barley Planted | 6 | NA | 5 | 5 |
| Rice Planted | 24 | NA | 21 | 18 |
| Rice Emerged | 12 | NA | 10 | 10 |
**
| 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 | 6 | 15 | 31 | 41 | 7 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 4 | 8 | 32 | 48 | 8 | ||
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