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Soybean harvest has now caught up to last year’s pace

Ben Potter, Senior editor

November 18, 2019

2 Min Read

The U.S. corn harvest is moving closer to completion, but nearly a quarter of the crop is still in the ground, according to the latest USDA crop progress report, out Monday afternoon.

Corn harvest progress is now at 76% as of November 17, up from 66% a week ago. That is just below analyst estimates of 77% and still moderately behind 2018’s pace of 89% and the five-year average of 92%, however.

Three states – North Dakota (23%), Michigan (39%) and Wisconsin (44%) – still haven’t cleared the halfway point at this time. Meantime, USDA reports two southern states (North Carolina and Tennessee) have wrapped up their respective harvests.

Soybean harvest is a bit further along, moving from 85% complete a week ago to 91% as of November 17, with USDA marking one state (Louisiana) as 100% complete at this time. That matches analyst expectations as well as 2018’s pace, although 2019 progress is still a bit behind the five-year average of 95%.

Farther south, the U.S. cotton harvest moved from 62% complete a week ago up to 68%. That’s moderately ahead of 2018’s pace of 58% and slightly better than the five-year average of 66%.

The U.S. sorghum harvest is even further along, moving from 88% complete a week ago up to 93%. That keeps it ahead of 2018’s pace of 79% and the five-year average of 87%.

Related:Feedback From The Field - Nov. 18, 2019

The 2019/20 winter wheat crop is nearly all planted at this time, moving from 92% complete a week ago up to 95%. That’s slightly ahead of 2018’s pace of 92% and in line with the five-year average of 95%. And 83% of the crop is now emerged.

As expected, USDA docked crop quality for a second consecutive week, moving the percentage in good-to-excellent condition from 54% down to 52%. Another 34% of the crop is rated fair (up a point from last week), with the remaining 14% rated poor or very poor (also up a point from last week). Some areas in the Central Plains and east of the Mississippi River are languishing below the national average, which was pulled up by better-performing crops farther west.

Click here to read the latest USDA crop progress report in its entirety.

About the Author(s)

Ben Potter

Senior editor, Farm Futures

Senior Editor Ben Potter brings two decades of professional agricultural communications and journalism experience to Farm Futures. He began working in the industry in the highly specific world of southern row crop production. Since that time, he has expanded his knowledge to cover a broad range of topics relevant to agriculture, including agronomy, machinery, technology, business, marketing, politics and weather. He has won several writing awards from the American Agricultural Editors Association, most recently on two features about drones and farmers who operate distilleries as a side business. Ben is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

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