Corn planting progress has reached 2%, according to the latest USDA Crop Progress report released Monday afternoon. That was in line with analyst expectations and the prior five-year average, with Texas accounting for much of the advancement so far, says Farm Futures senior grain market analyst Bryce Knorr.
“Corn planting is off to a little bit of a slow start, which was in line with my expectation due largely to early seeding in Texas, which passed the halfway point last week,” he notes. “Spring wheat seeding also came in a bit lower than expected, though it’s still fairly early.”
USDA has only marked corn planting progress for six of the top 18 production states so far, including Texas (53%), Tennessee (8%), North Carolina (5%), Missouri (2%), Kansas (2%) and Iowa (2%). With much warmer weather for much of the central U.S. for the next several days, that progress will certainly make big strides in the coming weeks. However, rampant flooding in some areas will keep progress there relatively suppressed for now.
Spring wheat planting progress is just at 1%, meantime, which is below last year’s pace of 2% and the prior five-year average of 5%. Two of the top six production states have started so far, including Washington (11%) and Idaho (3%).
Winter wheat conditions made some marked improvements this past week, Knorr notes. The percentage of the crop rated good or excellent moved from 56% the prior week up to 60% last week. Another 31% of this year’s crop is rated fair, with the remaining 9% rated poor or very poor.
“Wheat conditions took another big leap forward last week, with yield potential up in all but three reporting states,” Knorr says. “That added a quarter to a half bushel per acre to my forecast yield, depending on the model used. Potential for record yields exist if these early results last.”
Farther south, the 2019 U.S. cotton crop is making slow progress, moving from 4% planted the prior week up to 6%. This is mostly in line with the 2018’s pace of 7% and the prior five-year average of 5%, however.
Other crops of note in the latest report include:
- Sorghum – 14% planted (up from 13% the prior week)
- Rice – 19% planted (up from 12% the prior week)
- Sugarbeets – 3% planted (NA the prior week)
- Oats – 27% planted (up from 25% the prior week)