With the harvest drawing nearer, the condition of the US winter wheat crop is showing further improvement.
Tuesday’s weekly USDA crop progress report pegged the national winter wheat crop at 34% good to excellent as of Sunday. That is up 3 points on the week and topped pre-report trade expectations of 32% good to excellent. Just in the last two weeks alone, the condition of the winter wheat crop has gained 5 points, as more rain has fallen on the drought-battered southern Plains.
Most of this past week’s overall improvement can be attributed to Oklahoma, where the crop is now rated 30% good to excellent – a whopping 20-point increase from a week earlier. The state crop progress report said simply that recent rainfall has allowed soil moisture, as well as small grain conditions, to improve. On the other hand, the condition of the crop in the No. 1 production state of Kansas held unchanged from a week earlier at just 10% good to excellent.
In the Great Lakes region, the condition of the Soft Red crop in Michigan fell to 57% good to excellent as of Sunday from 64% a week earlier, while Ohio improved to 72% from 66%.
An estimated 72% of the US winter wheat crop had reached the heading stage as of Sunday, up from 61% the previous week and near the average of 73%. The Kansas and Oklahoma crops were 84% and 98% headed, versus 90% and 98% on average. The Michigan crop was 10 points ahead of average at 29% heading as of Sunday, while Ohio was 15 points ahead at 75%.
