According to the Oct. 3 Crop Progress Report from USDA, the U.S. corn crop is 79% mature, just one percentage point behind the five-year average. Maturity jumped 16 percentage points since last week. The 2010 crop was 92% mature by this time.

Corn harvest has started in every state. North Carolina is most complete, with 87% of their corn crop harvested, while North Dakota is just on the board at 1%. Farmers have harvested 21% of the U.S. corn crop overall this fall, just two points behind the five-year average.

Corn condition stayed the same as last week at 52% of the crop in good/excellent condition. Twenty percent of the crop is in very poor/poor condition. Last year at this time, the corn crop was 66% good/excellent.

Soybeans are moving right along, too. Seventy-six percent of the crop has dropped leaves – a big jump from last week’s 58%. The 2011 crop is still trailing the five-year average by 7 points, and last year’s progress of 87%.

Soybean harvest has started in all states but Ohio. An overall average of 19% of the soybean crop has been harvested, 6 points behind the five-year average of 25%, and quite a bit behind last year’s pace of 34%. Louisiana has harvested 80% of their crop, ahead of last year’s 75% at this time. Ohio is furthest behind in harvest, with no soybean acres harvested yet – well behind last year’s 41% and a five-year average of 22%.

The condition of the soybean cropped increased one percentage point  in the good/excellent category to 54% good/excellent overall, 10 points behind last year’s rating. Seventeen percent of the crop is in very poor/poor condition, down 1 point from last week, but up 5 points from last year.

Get the full Crop Progress Report from the USDA website.