USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

This article was originally published at 3:04 p.m. CDT on Monday, Oct. 28. It was last updated with additional information at 4:34 p.m. CDT on Monday, Oct. 28.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- U.S. farmers continued to take advantage of favorable harvest weather conditions last week to bring in the corn and soybean crops ahead of schedule, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

But the speedy progress of harvest could slow somewhat for some farmers this week, as a more active weather pattern is forecast to bring precipitation to parts of the country, according to DTN forecasts.

CORN

-- Harvest progress: Corn harvest moved ahead 16 percentage points nationally last week to reach 81% complete as of Sunday. That was 13 points ahead of last year's 68% and 17 points ahead of the five-year average of 52%. Ohio's harvest was the furthest ahead of normal at 72% complete, 34 percentage points ahead of the state's five-year average of 38%. That was followed by Wisconsin at 65% complete, 30 percentage points ahead of the state's five-year average of 35%. Iowa's harvest, at 84% complete, was 21 points ahead of the state's average of 63%. Indiana's harvest was 19 points ahead of the state's average; Illinois' harvest was 14 points ahead of average; and Nebraska's harvest was 12 points ahead of average.

SOYBEANS

-- Harvest progress: Soybean harvest continued to slow last week, moving ahead 8 percentage points to reach 89% complete as of Sunday. That was still 7 points ahead of last year's 82% and 11 points ahead of the five-year average of 78%. Michigan's soybean harvest was the furthest ahead of normal at 91% complete, 31 points ahead of the state's average of 60%. That was followed by Wisconsin, which was 96% complete, 23 points ahead of the state's average of 73%. Missouri, at 75% complete, was 18 points ahead of average. Indiana was 13 points ahead of average. Illinois and Iowa were both 10 points ahead of average. Nebraska, at 94% complete, was 3 points ahead of the state's five-year average of 91%.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Planting progress: Winter wheat planting moved ahead another 7 points to reach 80% complete nationwide as of Sunday, 2 points behind last year's 82% and 4 points behind the five-year average of 84%. Oklahoma remained the furthest behind normal with 59% of its crop planted as of Sunday, 22 percentage points behind the state's five-year average of 81%. Top winter-wheat producer Kansas' crop was 87% planted, 1 point behind the state's average of 88%. Texas was 5 points behind its average, South Dakota trailed its five-year average by 3 points and Nebraska was equal to its average. Washington finished planting its winter wheat crop, 4 points ahead of its five-year average of 96%.

-- Crop development: An estimated 56% of winter wheat had emerged as of Sunday, 5 points behind both last year and the five-year average of 61%.

-- Crop condition: In its first condition rating of the 2025 winter wheat crop, USDA NASS estimated that 38% of the crop that had emerged was in good to excellent condition. That trailed last year's rating of 47% good to excellent by 9 percentage points. Twenty-three percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor compared to 18% at the same time last year.

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THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

After weeks of mostly dry weather, a more active weather pattern could bring some harvest-disrupting precipitation to the central U.S. this coming week, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"This week is finally going to be more active across the middle of the country," Baranick said. "That's something we haven't really seen during the harvest season so far. The setup will pit a trough in the West and a ridge in the East. In between is where systems like to develop and move, and we'll have a few of them over the course of the next seven days. I count three. That should mean adding more moisture into soils for those that are done with harvest, but disrupting those with work yet to do. The heaviest rain is forecast to fall from central Texas up through Wisconsin, but there could be pockets of heavy rain elsewhere as well. Drought should be decreased in many areas, and we may see a small boost to river levels.

"However, the forecast for hard red winter wheat areas is lacking. Some areas from west Texas through eastern Kansas will get some needed rain, but those in western Kansas and the northern panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas will probably go without much. Temperatures will be swinging around quite a bit too, at least in the middle of the country with those systems moving through. Colder air in the West will leak into the Plains on occasion, and that could mean a mix with some snow for those across the Northern Plains and possibly the Northwoods of Wisconsin and Michigan."

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Editor's Note: How is your harvest going? 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.

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