In this week’s report, USDA reduced the national corn condition rating by another two points - bringing it down to 55 percent in the combined good to excellent categories. In the I-80 Corridor, Nebraska went down by five points and Illinois dropped by three. Outside the Corridor, Michigan and Colorado also saw five point declines but, by far, the biggest move was seen in the form of a huge 10 point drop in the Pennsylvania crop condition. The national soybean condition rating declined by one more point this week which now puts it at 57 percent good to excellent. In the I-80 Corridor, Nebraska saw a two point decline while Iowa and Illinois both trimmed one point each. Outside the Corridor, Arkansas reported the biggest drop of seven points since last week and Kansas went down by five. On the positive side, North Carolina showed a nice seven point improvement and Missouri gained five points.
Cotton condition nationwide gave back the three points that it had gained last week, sliding down to only 31 percent good to excellent. Among the top five producing states, Alabama took a nose dive of eight points while North Carolina dropped by four and Texas came down by three. Among the other key producing states, Kansas declined by eight points, but Louisiana and South Carolina both reported improvements of seven points each.
Grain sorghum (milo) condition nationwide sank by two more points this week to land at only 25 percent good to excellent while the national poor to very poor rating moved upward to 40 percent. ALL of the Plains states reported declines in condition this week with Oklahoma getting hit the hardest by dropping six points. Texas came down by five.
Rice condition across the nation slid lower by three points on average - dragging it down to 72 percent good to excellent. Mississippi posted the largest drop of nine points in its rating while Arkansas came down by seven. California did manage to show a five point improvement.
Rice harvest nationwide has edged up to 15 percent completion which is right in line with its five-year average. Texas leads the way with 66 percent of its acres now harvested and Louisiana jumped up to 60 percent.
Peanut condition nationwide moved down by one point to now stand at 69 percent good to excellent. The biggest improvement was seen in South Carolina where the crop improved by six points. On the other hand, the rating of the Florida peanut crop sank by four points.
(Since a third of the spring wheat crop is already harvested, we will skip its condition rating for the rest of the year.) Spring wheat harvest has now officially reached 33 percent completion. South Dakota already has 84 percent of its crop out of the field which is four points ahead of its average pace. Montana has caught up to its five-year average of 52 percent.
Pasture conditions continued their decline in the central and southern Plains states, although the southern Plains ratings will likely jump next week due to the heavy rains seen this past weekend. For now, as of last Sunday, Oklahoma pastureland showed a three point decline in its good to excellent rating which puts it at only six percent. Texas still reports the poorest pasture conditions with 84 percent rated poor to very poor and only two percent good to excellent. To the north, North Dakota saw its condition decline by eight points. On the brighter side, New Mexico is still benefiting from the continuing active monsoon season as its pasture rating improved by six points. Montana also reported a six point improvement.
In the topsoil moisture deficit category (generally considered to measure the top four inches of soil representing the seed planting and sprouting zone), Montana jumps back into the top spot with 82 percent of its farmland rated short to very short on moisture. However, Texas finally saw some relief with a six point improvement in its moisture level. Similarly, Kansas and Oklahoma both saw their deficit ratings go down by five points thanks to recent rains in some areas.
In the subsoil moisture deficit category (considered to measure deep soil moisture down to a few feet where the crop roots would extend downward), we have a tie for the top spot with Wyoming and Montana both reporting 87 percent of their acres as being short to very short. Oklahoma reduced its deficit rating by five points since last week, but it still shows 84 percent of its acreage in the short to very short categories.
