USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

This article was originally published at 3:04 p.m. CDT on Monday, April 15. It was last updated with additional information at 3:44 p.m. CDT on Monday, April 15.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- Corn, soybean and spring wheat planting and winter wheat heading were all running slightly ahead of their five-year averages, and winter wheat conditions fell slightly last week, USDA NASS said in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

Winter wheat conditions could take another hit later this week and weekend, as a storm is expected to send cold air down from western Canada through the Plains and Great Lakes, producing areas of frosts and freezes that could damage hard red winter wheat in the southwestern Plains, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick. That region, which has been skipped over by most systems this spring, is unlikely to get much precipitation again this week, he said.

CORN

-- Planting progress: Corn planting moved ahead 3 percentage points last week to reach 6% complete nationwide as of Sunday. That's slightly behind 7% at this time last year but slightly ahead of the five-year average of 5%. "Double-digit planting progress has been made in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas and Tennessee," noted DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.

SOYBEANS

-- Planting progress: 3% of soybeans were planted nationwide as of Sunday, NASS said in its first soybean progress report of the season. That is equal to last year's pace but 2 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 1%. "Arkansas led the way with 26% of soybeans planted, followed by Louisiana at 20% and Mississippi at 16%," Hultman said.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Crop development: 11% of winter wheat was headed as of Sunday. That is 2 points ahead of 9% at this time last year and 4 points ahead of the five-year average of 7%.

-- Crop condition: 55% of the crop was rated in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 point from 56% the previous week but up from 27% a year ago. Thirteen percent of the crop was rated poor to very poor, down from 39% a year ago. Top winter-wheat-producer Kansas' crop was rated 43% good to excellent, down 6 points from 49% the previous week.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Planting progress: 7% of spring wheat was planted as of Sunday, 1 point ahead of the five-year average. "Washington is 42% planted, and Idaho is 39% planted," Hultman noted.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

A big storm system is expected to move across the U.S. this week, bringing chances of severe weather and damaging frosts and freezes, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"This week features another big storm system, or really systems," Baranick said. "The first punch of it comes early in the week as a low-pressure center moves from the Central Plains to the Great Lakes. Widespread showers and thunderstorms will develop with the low and severe weather looking likely in the Plains on Monday, central Corn Belt on Tuesday, and possibly the Eastern Corn Belt on Wednesday. Heavier rain will stick to drier areas in the western half of the Corn Belt, which will gladly soak up the rain.

"Later in the week, another push of a cold front will go through the southern tier of the country and produce some heavier rainfall as well. That will fall on many areas that have been very wet recently and will probably slow down planting progress. In between, some areas will get the chance to dry out or have good enough conditions to keep planting close to the intended schedule.

"The second piece to the storm will be sending a lot of cold air down from western Canada through the Plains and Great Lakes later this week and weekend, producing areas of frosts and freezes, which could be damaging to hard red winter wheat in the southwestern Plains, which do not look to get a lot of precipitation with the system this week and have been skipped over by most of the systems over the course of the spring. Further declines in winter wheat conditions look likely in these areas."

To view weekly crop progress reports issued by National Ag Statistics Service offices in individual states, visit http://www.nass.usda.gov/…. Look for the U.S. map in the "Find Data and Reports by" section and choose the state you wish to view in the drop-down menu. Then look for that state's "Crop Progress & Condition" report.

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Editor's Note: How are your crops looking? Are they better, worse or right on track with USDA NASS' observations this week? Send us your comments, and we'll include them in next week's Crop Progress report story. You can email comments to Anthony.greder@dtn.com or direct message him on Twitter @AGrederDTN. Please include the location of where you farm.

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Anthony Greder can be reached at anthony.greder@dtn.com

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