Market News & Headlines >> U.S. Crop Ratings Steady

U.S. corn and soybean ratings held steady last week at 69% good/excellent and 62% good/excellent respectively as the gap in conditions between the eastern and western Midwest remained wide.

Warmer, drier weather in many areas helped boost crop development. USDA estimated that 55% of the U.S. corn crop was silking as of Sunday, up from 27% a week earlier and 53% a year earlier, but still 1 percentage point behind the five-year average. Some 56% of U.S. soybeans were said to be blooming, with 17% of the crop setting pods; both on par with the five-year averages, but 1 percentage point below last year.

The corn crop continued to struggle in the eastern Corn Belt, with the Ohio crop rating improving to 46% good/excellent from 41% a week earlier, but the Indiana rating slipping a point to 45% good/excellent and the Illinois rating down a point to 55% good/excellent. In contrast, the good/excellent rating for Minnesota corn improved 3 points to a stellar 86%, while the Iowa rating was up 1 point to 83% good/excellent and the Wisconsin rating was up 2 points to 84% good/excellent.

Soybean conditions continued to decline in the eastern Midwest last week with the good/excellent ratings slipping to 47% from 48% for the Illinois crop; falling to 40% from 42% for the Indiana crop and dropping to 41% from 42% for the Ohio crop. The worst conditions, though, continue be in Missouri, where the crop was rated only 29% good-excellent, down from 32% a week earlier. 

The portion of the soybean crop rated good/excellent improved by 1 percentage point in Minnesota to 79%, and also by 1 point in Nebraska and South Dakota to 72% and 79% respectively. However, the Iowa crop rating slipped to 77% good/excellent from 78%.