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Soybean quality also tilts lower in the week ending August 7

Ben Potter, Senior editor

August 8, 2022

2 Min Read
Soybean field in Iowa
Rachel Schutte

USDA’s latest crop quality report, out Monday afternoon and covering the week through August 7, showed soybean crop quality dipping a point lower, mirroring analyst expectations. But analysts were also expecting to see a one-point decline in corn ratings, with USDA instead slashing ratings by three points instead.

Corn condition slumped three points lower this past week, with 58% of the crop now rated in good-to-excellent condition. Analysts had offered an average trade guess of 60% prior to today’s report. Another 26% of the crop is rated fair (up a point from last week), with the remaining 16% rated poor or very poor (up two points from last week).

USDA is now tracking three maturity stages for corn. Ninety percent of the crop is now silking, up from 80% last week and behind he prior five-year average of 93%. Nearly half (45%) is now at dough stage, versus 26% a week ago and the prior five-year average of 49%. And 6% of the crop is now dented, which is also behind the prior five-year average of 9%.

Soybean quality trended a point lower this past week, moving to 59% rated in good-to-excellent condition. Another 30% of the crop is rated fair (up a point from last week), with the remaining 11% rated poor or very poor (unchanged from last week).

Physiologically, 89% of the crop is now blooming, which puts it very close to 2021’s pace of 90% and the prior five-year average of 88%. And 61% is setting pods, up from last week’s mark of 44% but moderately behind the prior five-year average of 66%.

Analysts didn’t expect to see changes in spring wheat ratings, but USDA served up a shocking drop. Ratings spilled six points lower, with 64% of the crop in good-to-excellent condition. Another 28% is rated fair (up five points from last week), with the remaining 8% rated poor or very poor (up a point from last week).

Harvest is underway, with 9% of this season’s crop complete. That’s well behind 2021’s pace of 35% and the prior five-year average of 19%, however.

Winter wheat harvest is also progressing more slowly than it has in recent years. Through Sunday, 86% of the crop had been harvested, versus 82% the prior week. That leaves this year’s pace moderately slower than 2021’s mark of 94% and the prior five-year average of 91%.

Click here for more data from the latest USDA crop progress report, including the agency’s observations about sorghum, oats, cotton, rice and other regionally important crops.

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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