The condition of the U.S. corn and soybean crops declined slightly over the past week, as crop development continued to run ahead of normal.
Monday’s USDA crop progress report rated 67% of the national corn crop in good to excellent condition as of Sunday, down 1 percentage point from the previous week and 6 points below the 73% reported a year earlier. The national soybean rating also slipped 1 point, falling to 65% good to excellent. That was also 1 point below the 66% rating from a year earlier.
Indiana recorded the largest deterioration in corn, with the state crop falling 7 points to 64% good to excellent. Michigan declined 4 points to 69%, while Illinois remained unchanged at 60%.
Corn conditions improved elsewhere. Ohio and North Dakota each gained 5 points, reaching 62% and 69% good to excellent, respectively. Iowa edged 1 point higher to 78%.
As for soybeans, the Indiana crops dropped 7 points to 64% good to excellent, while Illinois declined 3 points to 55%. North Dakota remained unchanged at 63%.
Iowa soybean conditions improved 1 point to 75%, while Michigan and Ohio each gained 2 points, reaching 63% and 57%, respectively.
Crop development continued to move ahead of normal nationally. Nine percent of the U.S. corn crop was silking, up from 5% the previous week and ahead of 7% last year and the 6% five-year average. Illinois corn was 8% silking, while Indiana was at 4% and Michigan at 3%. Iowa and Ohio were each at 1%, while no silking was reported in North Dakota.
Soybean blooming advanced to 19% nationally from 9% a week earlier, compared with 16% last year and the 15% average. Iowa was at 18%, followed by Illinois at 17%. Five per cent of Indiana soybeans were blooming, while Michigan, Ohio and North Dakota were each at 3%.
An estimated 4% of the national soybean crop was setting pods, compared with 3% last year and 2% on average.
