Market News & Headlines >> U.S. Winter Wheat Conditions Slip Again

The U.S. winter wheat crop is going into winter is going into winter in the worst shape in four years after western and northern portions of the Plains HRW belt continued to dry out during Thanksgiving week. 

USDA pegged U.S. winter wheat conditions as of Nov. 26 at 50% good/excellent, down from 52% a week earlier and 58% a year earlier. The weekly U.S. crop update was the last of 2017. The first weekly report for 2018 will be released on April 2. The nationwide crop rating was the worst for late November since 2013. Back then, the crop was in much worse shape, though, that year USDA pegged conditions at only 36% good/excellent in its last rating of the fall. On average over the past five years, crop conditions have been rated 54% good/excellent.

Crop conditions in the top winter wheat growing state of Kansas declined to 51% good/excellent from 56% a week earlier, while the good/excellent rating in neighboring Oklahoma fell to only 30% from 37% previously and the Texas crop rating fell to 36% good/excellent from 41%. The worst crop condition rating was again in South Dakota, where only 18% of the crop was rated good/excellent, down from 19% previously. The Montana crop, meanwhile was rated 33% good/excellent, down from 36% a week earlier. 

The SRW wheat crop is in good shape in the eastern Midwest with Ohio crop conditions rated 88% good/excellent. Meanwhile, in the Pacific Northwest, Washington state crop conditions were also rated 88% good/excellent.