NAPERVILLE, (Illinois): Wet weather last week in the western Corn Belt slowed field work and disrupted corn emergence in some areas, though fields further east, including those in Indiana and Ohio, are in excellent condition.
Crop Watch follows 11 corn and 11 soybean fields across nine US states, including two each in Iowa and Illinois. The Ohio corn was planted last Monday, one day earlier than the field’s six-year average. The only Crop Watch field awaiting planting is the North Dakota soybeans.
That will make for the second-slowest Crop Watch planting pace of the past four years, but the effort is still a full week ahead of the slowest year, 2022.
The North Dakota producer reports planting progress early last week before rains shut everything down, but not much activity occurred in South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska. The northeast Nebraska location observed more than nine inches of rain last week.
Those northwest Corn Belt producers report some emergence issues due to saturation, but the Minnesota grower, for example, notes his later-planted corn is looking great. Almost five inches of rain in western Iowa last week eroded soils and thinned some corn plants, but soybeans there are doing well.
Crop Watch producers in the I-states plan to spray crops this week as planting is mostly finished, assuming sufficient drying, which is likely mid-week. Most of the Corn Belt may face wetter weather again toward the weekend, though next week might feature the dry weather many areas need.
The Kansas producer is also spraying corn this week and plans to harvest wheat about 15 days earlier than normal as the crop has moved quickly to maturity. Rains were light in Kansas last week and many growers focused on sowing sorghum.
The US Department of Agriculture on Tuesday afternoon will publish planting progress as of May 26. The date’s five-year average for corn is 82%, 10-year is 90%, and the five-year-average weekly gain is 11 percentage points. Corn was 70% planted on May 19 versus a five-year average of 71%.
For soybeans, the five-year average May 26 pace is 63%, the 10-year average is 66%, and the five-year-average weekly gain is 14 percentage points. Beans were 52% planted on May 19, some three points ahead of the five-year average.
US soybean planting has been ahead of the five-year average this entire spring, though corn was as much as five points ahead in April before falling as much as five points behind by mid-May. The North Dakota soybeans are in Griggs County and the corn is in Stutsman County. Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.