Market News & Headlines >> Corn Planting Caught Up, Soy Surges Ahead

The pace of U.S. corn planting caught up with normal last week and soybean planting progress remained well ahead of average as producers in the northwest part of the Midwest growing belt made strong progress. 

USDA pegged nationwide corn planting progress at 81% as of Sunday, on par with the five-year average for the date and only 1 percentage point below a year earlier. USDA reported soybean planting was 56% done, up from 50% a year earlier and the average pace of 44%. 

Meanwhile, crop emergence moved ahead of normal thanks to warm weather. USDA said 50% of the U.S. corn crop had emerged by Sunday, compared with the five-year average of 47%, while 26% of the U.S. soybean crop had emerged, well ahead of the average pace of 15%. 

Planting has moved especially swiftly in the No. 2 U.S. corn and soybean state of Illinois, where 96% of the corn crop had been planted by Sunday versus the five-year average of 87% and 81% of the soybean crop was in the ground, nearly double the average pace of 42%. Crops have also gone into the ground at a fast pace in neighboring Indiana, where corn planting was 88% done ahead of the average pace of 71% and soybean planting was 73% done versus an average of 38%. 

In the top growing state of Iowa, corn planting was 86% complete versus 91% a year earlier and an average pace of 88%, while soybean planting was 58% complete, versus 59% last year and an average pace of 51%. 

Producers in Minnesota planted 37% of their corn crop last week and also 37% of their soybean crop, pushing corn planting progress to 77% against an average of 84% and soybean planting progress to 56% versus an average of 64%. 

South Dakota producers managed to plant 45% of their corn crop in one week, pushing overall progress to 66%, still behind the average pace of 81%. USDA pegged South Dakota soybean planting progress at 24%, up 20 points from a week earlier, but still 20 points behind the five-year average.