More than one-third of the US spring wheat crop is already in the ground as producers in the major production states made excellent planting progress this past week.
Monday’s USDA crop progress report pegged national spring wheat planting at 34% complete as of Sunday, way up from 15% a week earlier and far ahead of just 10% last year and 19% on average. Going into today’s report, most traders and analysts were only expecting spring wheat planting to be just over one-quarter complete.
Planting in Minnesota jumped 30 points on the week to reach 48% complete as of Sunday, compared to 0% last year and the state average of 11%. The Montana crop was 35% planted, up from 7% a week earlier and 15 points ahead of average. In the No. 1 state of North Dakota, planting gained 13 points on the week to 20% done – versus just 5% last year and 11% on average. Almost two-thirds (62%) of the South Dakota crop was in as of Sunday, up from 40% the previous week and ahead of 36% on average.
An estimated 5% of the US spring wheat crop had emerged as of Sunday, up from 2% a week earlier and on par with the average.
