(Washington D.C.) NASS rated 56% of the corn crop as good to excellent, down 1 percentage point from the previous week and 12 points below last year’s 68%. Iowa continued to have the highest-rated corn crop in the country, with 77% rated good to excellent, according to DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini. Seventeen percent of the national crop was rated poor to very poor, unchanged from the previous week and 8 percentage points higher than last year’s 9%.
An estimated 96% of the nation’s corn crop had reached the dough stage, 2 percentage points ahead of both last year’s pace and the five-year average of 94%. Corn in the dented stage was estimated at 76%, 4 percentage points ahead of both last year and the five-year average of 72%. About 25% of the crop was mature, 1 percentage point ahead of last year’s 24% and 2 points above the five-year average of 23%.
The U.S. corn harvest got off to a slightly faster start than both last year and the five-year average, according to USDA NASS’s weekly Crop Progress report released Tuesday. The report was delayed from its usual Monday release because of the Labor Day holiday. In its first corn harvest estimate of the season, NASS reported that 5% of the national crop had been harvested. That was 1 percentage point ahead of last year’s 4% and 2 points above the five-year average of 3%.
A series of frontal systems is expected to bring multiple rounds of rain across the Corn Belt this week, potentially slowing harvest activity in some areas.
Soybeans dropping leaves were estimated at 26%, 6 percentage points ahead of both last year’s 20% and the five-year average of 20%. NASS rated 58% of the soybean crop as good to excellent, unchanged from the previous week but down 6 percentage points from last year’s 64%.
Iowa again posted the strongest crop ratings, with 77% of its soybean crop rated good to excellent. North Dakota remained at the lower end of the ratings, with just 28% of its soybean crop rated good to excellent. Meanwhile, 32% was rated poor to very poor.
