In this week’s report, USDA shows the national corn condition is unchanged from a week ago - remaining at a 64 percent good to excellent rating. While beneficial rain helped most of the states along the I-80 Corridor, some of the states outside that region saw declines in condition. Of the 3-I states, Iowa showed the largest improvement with a gain of four points. Indiana dropped one point. To the north, Minnesota went down two points and to the south, Tennessee dropped by 12 percentage points from 52 all the way down to 40 in one week’s time. Kentucky is reportedly chopping some corn for silage in the southern part of the state, but because of rainfall in northern sections, the state’s rating only dropped by one point this week.
The national soybean condition rating declined by one point - landing it at 62 percent good to excellent. In the I-80 Corridor, Nebraska saw a large increase of seven points since last week’s report. Indiana trimmed its rating by one point. Iowa still has the best crop overall in the corridor with a 79 percent rating. However, to the north, Minnesota slid downward by five points and to the south, Kentucky dropped by 13 points and Tennessee went down by nine.
Cotton condition nationwide improved by three points to 39 percent good to excellent. The biggest gain in the top producing states was turned in by Georgia which saw an 11 percentage point increase. Texas gained four points, but still maintains the lowest rating overall with only 21 percent of its crop making the good to excellent grade. Mississippi had the biggest decline as it lost nine points last week.
Grain sorghum condition nationwide declined by two points in the good to excellent categories putting it at 40 percent. In the Plains, South Dakota reported a 10 point drop since last week and Nebraska spiraled downward by eight points. Kansas went down by five and Oklahoma trimmed off four points. Texas picked up three points this week, but just as in the cotton, it maintains the lowest overall rating with only 18 percent of its crop rated good to excellent while 47 percent is poor to very poor.
Rice condition across the nation picked up one point in the good to excellent rating to land at 77 percent. Texas reported a large 18 point drop while Missouri declined by six points. Louisiana and Arkansas both picked up three points apiece.
Peanut condition showed widespread improvement since a week ago as the national crop is now rated 63 percent good to excellent which would be a six point gain. Among the individual top producing states, South Carolina surged ahead with an 11 point gains while Georgia was nipping at its heels with an upward move of 10 points as both states capitalized on recent beneficial rainfall.
The national spring wheat condition rating showed a four point increase this week as it edged up to 70 percent good to excellent. Montana showed the largest improvement of eight points, but it still has the lowest rating of only 44 percent in the top two categories. North Dakota improved by six points, but neighboring Minnesota dropped by eight points.
Winter wheat harvest pushed northward to reach 63 percent completion nationwide. In the southern Plains, only a few acres remain in the field as Oklahoma is completely done, Texas is at 97 percent and Kansas has already completed 95 percent of its harvest. Most of the action has now shifted into Nebraska and South Dakota where Nebraska reported 36 percent of its harvest is complete and South Dakota is just getting a good start with 10 percent now out of the field. While not on our in-house printout, USDA did report that Colorado is at 28 percent completion which lags it five-year average of 40 percent.
Pasture conditions in the Plains generally declined with the exception of Nebraska which posted an improvement of six points from a week ago, but even that only brings it up to 19 percent good to excellent. Oklahoma saw a significant drop of nine points compared to last week. Kansas slid four points lower, and Texas still shows the poorest conditions with only TWO percent making the good to excellent rating. An amazing 83 percent is rated poor to very poor! Adjacent New Mexico only has eight percent in the good to excellent categories and 58 percent rating poor to very poor.
In the topsoil moisture deficit category (generally considered to measure the top four inches of soil representing the seed planting and sprouting zone), Texas has a lock on the top spot with 95 percent of its acres rated short to very short on moisture. Arkansas deficit levels jumped by 11 points to move it into second place among the driest states in this segment. Colorado actually had its moisture levels improve by 12 points since last week.
In the subsoil moisture deficit category (considered to measure deep soil moisture down to a few feet where the crop roots would extend downward), Texas again claims the top spot with a 95 percent deficit rating - three percentage points drier than last week. New Mexico hangs onto second place with 90 percent while Arkansas moves into the third driest spot with a 77 percent deficit rating.
