USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report - Corn 44% Harvested, Soybeans 64% Harvested as of Oct. 18

OMAHA (DTN) -- U.S. corn and soybean harvests remain slightly behind their five-year averages, though soybean progress has nearly caught up, trailing the average by just 1 percentage point, according to USDA NASS's weekly Crop Progress report released Monday.

Most producers can expect sunny skies, warm temperatures and good conditions for fieldwork this week, while showers in the West may help drought and increase soil moisture, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

CORN

-- Crop development: Corn mature was pegged at 95%, 1 percentage point behind the five-year average of 96%. DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini noted that Michigan and Ohio are lagging, with Michigan at 62% mature and Ohio at 78%.

-- Harvest progress: NASS estimated that 44% of corn had been harvested nationally as of Oct. 18, 8 percentage points behind the five-year average of 52%. Mantini said Michigan, Pennsylvania and Iowa are lagging well behind average, with harvest progress at 13%, 15% and 26%, respectively.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 56% of the crop remaining in fields was in good-to-excellent condition, steady with the previous week. Seventeen percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor, also steady with the previous week.

SOYBEANS

-- Crop development: Soybeans dropping leaves were pegged at 96%, 1 percentage point behind the five-year average of 97%.

-- Harvest progress: NASS estimated that 64% of soybeans had been harvested as of Sunday, 1 percentage point behind the five-year average of 65%. Mantini said harvest progress remains well behind the average pace in Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa, where 37%, 52% and 57% of soybeans have been harvested.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Planting progress: Winter wheat planting was estimated at 63% complete nationally, 6 percentage points behind the five-year average of 69%. Mantini noted that planting in top-producing Kansas was 60% complete, compared with the state's five-year average of 69%, while Oklahoma was 37% planted, 22 percentage points behind its five-year average of 59%.

-- Crop development: Winter wheat emerged was estimated at 39%, 4 percentage points behind the five-year average 43%.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

Sunny skies and warm temperatures will provide a great week for producers to get fieldwork done across much of the country, though showers will bring beneficial moisture to the West and could slow work in some areas, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"This will be a great week of weather for most producers to get out and do all the work they can," Baranick said. "Widespread high pressure east of the Rockies will produce a lot of sunny skies, warm temperatures, and good conditions to do fieldwork including harvest, tillage, fertilizer application, or winter planting. However, an upper-level trough is moving into the West where showers will be widespread throughout most of the week. That should help with drought and increasing soil moisture for those folks, but will make it difficult to get work done. The system will move into the Northern Plains on Friday. Winds should pick up around the system and so should scattered showers. As the system moves north into Canada, the front will stretch out across the Southern Plains into the Upper Midwest for the weekend where showers will likely continue. The forecast isn't calling for much heavy rain, so this would be more of a nuisance and a slight delay rather than bog down producers again."

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn mature	95	91	NA	96
Corn harvested	44	33	NA	52
Soybeans dropping leaves	96	92	NA	97
Soybeans harvested	64	46	NA	65
Winter wheat planted	63	51	NA	69
Winter wheat emerged	39	27	NA	43
Cotton bolls opening	85	82	NA	89
Cotton harvested	41	31	NA	37
Sorghum mature	87	80	NA	92
Sorghum harvested	46	40	NA	58
Rice harvested	97	92	NA	93
Sugarbeets harvested	55	32	NA	57
Sunflowers harvested	24	14	NA	26
Peanuts harvested	39	29	NA	46

**

National Crop Condition Summary
(VP=Very Poor; P=Poor; F=Fair; G=Good; E=Excellent)
	VP	P	F	G	E
Corn
This Week	5	12	27	43	13
Prev Week	5	12	27	44	12
Prev Year	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
DTN 5-Yr Avg	5	10	26	46	13
Peanuts
This Week	2	12	34	47	5
Prev Week	2	11	33	48	6
Prev Year	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
DTN 5-Yr Avg	2	8	32	51	7
Cotton
This Week	13	24	28	28	7
Prev Week	12	24	30	28	6
Prev Year	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
DTN 5-Yr Avg	12	17	30	34	6