For the first time in a long time, corn planting pace has squeaked ahead of the five-year average pace, reaching nearly 60% planted as of May 11. Corn emergence picked up pace over the last week, too. Soybean planting pace is nearly average, making big progress in the last seven days.

Corn

Farmers planting corn made huge progress in the last week, going from 29% overall planted on May 4 to 59% planted on May 11. The five-year average pace is 58%. Last year, only 26% of the overall corn crop had been planted by May 11. North Dakota farmers finally got in the field and got 3% of their crop in over the last week. Farmers in Iowa made the most progress in the last week, going from 23% of the corn planted on May 4 to 70% of the corn planted on May 11.

Corn emergence is still 7 points behind average pace at 18% emerged overall. This week, there are only three states that haven’t seen any emerged corn yet: Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. States with more than half the corn crop out of the ground include: Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Soybeans

Farmers planting soybeans made good progress in the last week, too. Soybean planting is now at an overall planted pace of 20%, just 1 point behind the five-year average. Last year at this time, only 5% of the overall soybean crop had been planted. North Dakota still hasn’t seen any soybeans go into the ground, and was just 3% planted last year at this time.