This article was originally published at 3:02 p.m. CDT on Monday, May 20. It was last updated with additional information at 3:52 p.m. CDT on Monday, May 20.
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OMAHA (DTN) -- Corn planting progress made a big jump last week to nearly catch up to the five-year average, while soybean planting continued slightly ahead of the average pace, USDA NASS said in its latest weekly Crop Progress report released on Monday.
An active weather pattern with more heavy rain and thunderstorms is forecast for much of the Corn Belt this week, which could spell continued planting delays and possible flooding threats for farmers, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.
CORN
-- Planting progress: Corn planting jumped 21 percentage points last week to reach 70% complete nationwide as of Sunday, May 19. That puts current planting progress at 6 percentage points behind last year's 76% and just 1 point behind the five-year average of 71%. "Iowa corn is 78% planted, Illinois is at 67%, Minnesota is at 81% and Nebraska is 79% planted," noted DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman.
-- Crop development: 40% of corn had emerged as of Sunday, 6 points behind last year but 1 point ahead of the five-year average of 39%.
SOYBEANS
-- Planting progress: Soybean planting moved ahead 17 percentage points last week to reach 52% complete nationwide as of Sunday. That was 9 percentage points behind last year's pace of 61% but 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 49%. "Illinois' soybean crop is 58% planted, and Iowa is at 61%," Hultman said.
-- Crop development: 26% of soybeans had emerged as of Sunday, 5 points behind last year's 31% but 5 points ahead of the five-year average of 21%.
WINTER WHEAT
-- Crop development: 69% of winter wheat was headed as of Sunday. That was 11 points ahead of 58% at this time last year and 12 points ahead of the five-year average of 57%.
-- Crop condition: 49% of the crop was rated in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 from the previous week but still up considerably from 31% a year ago. The percentage rated very poor to poor held steady at 18%. "The largest weekly declines in good-to-excellent ratings were in Oregon, Illinois, Colorado and Arkansas," Hultman noted.
DTN took a closer look at the top winter-wheat producer Kansas' crop during last week's Wheat Quality Council 2024 Hard Winter Wheat Tour. Read more about the tour's findings here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….
SPRING WHEAT
-- Planting progress: 79% of spring wheat was planted as of Sunday, 22 points ahead of 57% last year and 14 points ahead of the five-year average of 65%. "North Dakota's winter wheat is 71% planted, also well above its normal pace," Hultman said.
-- Crop development: 43% of spring wheat has emerged, 16 points ahead of 27% last year and 10 points ahead of the five-year average of 33%.
THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER
An active weather pattern will continue again this week, bringing chances of heavy rain and thunderstorms to the Corn Belt, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.
"Another week in spring, another active week," Baranick said. "Multiple systems, disturbances and fronts will combine across the Corn Belt to bring waves of heavy rain and severe thunderstorms. And it's hard to be optimistic about it in too many areas. Heavy rain is on the way for a lot of areas that don't need it. Instead, flooding will continue to be a concern over the next week. That makes it hard to go out and plant and gets those with seed in the ground concerned about flood damage instead. In other words, there aren't a lot of folks in the Corn Belt who won't be worried by the incredibly active pattern for this week.
"To go along with the active pattern, temperatures in the Northern Plains and Canadian Prairies will be colder than normal. Some frosty mornings will be possible, though widespread damage to crops is not anticipated.
"Those in the south are getting a break, though. With the storm track through the Corn Belt, those in Texas through the Gulf Coast and Southeast that are recovering from last week's heavy rain should see some drier conditions throughout the week."
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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 add them to the Crop Progress report story. You can email comments to Anthony.greder@dtn.com or direct message him on social platform X @AGrederDTN. Please include the location of where you farm.
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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.
| National Crop Progress Summary |
| | This | Last | Last | 5-Year |
| | Week | Week | Year | Avg. |
| Corn Planted | 70 | 49 | 76 | 71 |
| Corn Emerged | 40 | 23 | 46 | 39 |
| Soybeans Planted | 52 | 35 | 61 | 49 |
| Soybeans Emerged | 26 | 16 | 31 | 21 |
| Winter Wheat Headed | 69 | 57 | 58 | 57 |
| Spring Wheat Planted | 79 | 61 | 57 | 65 |
| Spring Wheat Emerged | 43 | 25 | 27 | 33 |
| Cotton Planted | 44 | 33 | 42 | 44 |
| Sorghum Planted | 32 | 26 | 32 | 30 |
| Oats Planted | 87 | 78 | 79 | 82 |
| Oats Emerged | 69 | 59 | 62 | 63 |
| Barley Planted | 78 | 64 | 65 | 74 |
| Barley Emerged | 48 | 27 | 28 | 43 |
| Rice Planted | 92 | 84 | 88 | 84 |
| Rice Emerged | 76 | 69 | 73 | 63 |
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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 |
| Winter Wheat | 5 | 13 | 33 | 42 | 7 | | 6 | 12 | 32 | 42 | 8 | | 18 | 22 | 29 | 26 | 5 |
| Rice | - | 1 | 17 | 69 | 13 | | - | 1 | 20 | 68 | 11 | | - | 4 | 23 | 60 | 13 |
| Oat | 4 | 6 | 26 | 57 | 7 | | 4 | 6 | 27 | 56 | 7 | | 5 | 9 | 28 | 53 | 5 |
Anthony Greder can be reached at anthony.greder@dtn.com
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