In this week’s report, USDA reduced the national corn condition rating by one point - taking it down to 57 percent in the combined good to excellent categories. In the I-80 Corridor, most states saw a decline in condition rating with the exception of Indiana which came up a couple of points. Iowa saw a surprisingly large drop of seven points from last week. North of this Corridor, South Dakota had the biggest drop of nine points in its rating. To balance out the national rating, Michigan reported a six point improvement followed by North Carolina and Colorado which both gained five points.
The national soybean condition rating also declined by one point which now puts it at 58 percent good to excellent. In the I-80 Corridor, Iowa lost eight points and Nebraska went down by six. However, in the eastern part of the Corridor, Indiana and Ohio both scored three point improvements. Outside the Corridor, South Dakota dropped by five points and Louisiana reported the biggest decline of nine points. But here again, Michigan came to bolster the national average as its soybean rating surged upward by 10 points while North Carolina came up by eight. Tennessee and Arkansas get an honorable mention as they both improved by seven points.
Cotton condition nationwide picked up by three points this week, landing at 34 percent good to excellent. Among the top producing states, North Carolina reported a huge improvement of 11 points this week! Mississippi wasn’t far behind as it showed a nine point increase. Though it’s not one of the top five producing states, Tennessee also reported an 11 point increase in its cotton rating this week. Louisiana had the biggest loss of nine points.
Grain sorghum (milo) condition nationwide sank by two points to 27 percent good to excellent while the national poor to very poor rating stood at 38 percent. In the key Plains states where the majority of the crop is produced, South Dakota took a huge hit as it dropped 15 points this week while Oklahoma shaved off nine points and Kansas went down by five. Oddly enough, Colorado and Texas saw seven and six point improvements respectively.
Rice condition across the nation once again saw a one point improvement on average - moving it up to 75 percent good to excellent. Texas showed a nine point improvement followed by Arkansas going up six. On the negative side, California declined by 10 points and Mississippi sank by eight.
Rice harvest nationwide bumped up to 11 percent completion. Texas leads the harvest progress with 51 percent of its crop already out of the field compared to its five-year average of 43 percent. Louisiana is 46 percent done versus its average pace of 55 percent. Arkansas is just getting started with one percent harvested.
Peanut condition nationwide held steady at 70 percent good to excellent this week. Notable movers include North Carolina showing an eight percent improvement while Alabama picked up three. On the other hand, Florida took a nosedive - going down by nine points and South Carolina trimmed its rating by four.
The national spring wheat condition rating remained unchanged at 64 percent good to excellent. Idaho reported the biggest improvement of seven points while Minnesota increased by six. North Dakota’s condition slid downward by two points.
Spring wheat harvest has edged up to 16 percent complete nationwide, but that is running well behind its five-year average pace of 35 percent. South Dakota has far and away made the best harvest progress with 72 percent of its crop now in the bin. Ironically, its next door neighbor, North Dakota, is way behind its average of 29 percent with only five percent cut.
Winter wheat harvest is 90 percent done across the nation, so for all intents and purposes, the harvest is now in clean up mode.
Pasture conditions went into a free fall in most states. Oklahoma was joined by Wyoming and Montana in dropping their good to excellent ratings by nine points in each state. South Dakota slipped by six points. Texas had a slight two point adjustment upward, but still shows 89 percent of its pastureland is in poor to very poor condition. The monsoonal rains have helped New Mexico to improve its pasture rating by five points this week.
In the topsoil moisture deficit category (generally considered to measure the top four inches of soil representing the seed planting and sprouting zone), USDA featured a huge reshuffling of the deck. Oklahoma rocketed into the highest deficit spot as its moisture rating declined by nine points. However, Kansas and Wyoming also reported their moisture deficits increased by nine points as well, so they landed in the second and third spots respectively.
In the subsoil moisture deficit category (considered to measure deep soil moisture down to a few feet where the crop roots would extend downward), Oklahoma once again surged into the top position as its moisture deficit expanded by seven points. Montana comes in at second place with its deficit rating holding steady at 86 percent short to very short. Wyoming added nine points to its deficit rating which now puts it into a tie for third place with Texas.
