U.S. corn and soybean conditions held steady last week as good conditions in top producing states continued to offset the impact of stress from hot weather across the Delta and the southern Midwest.

USDA rated U.S. corn conditions 71% good/excellent as of Sunday, unchanged from a weak earlier and 3 percentage points above a year earlier.

Soybean conditions were rated 66% good/excellent, unchanged from a week earlier and a year earlier.

The corn crop continues to develop much faster than last year and ahead of the normal pace. USDA estimated that 52% of the U.S. crop had reached the dough stage by Sunday compared with only 23% a year earlier and a five-year average of 40%.

Some 14% of the corn crop was said to have dented compared with only 7% last year and the average pace of 11%.

Soybean development also remains ahead of normal with 71% of the crop said to be setting pods compared with only 52% a year earlier and the five-year average of 67%.

The Iowa corn crop rating held steady at 70% good/excellent, while the Illinois rating fell 2 points to 64% good/excellent due to hot, dry conditions across much of the state.

Iowa soybean conditions were rated 73% good/excellent up 2 points from a week earlier, while Illinois soybeans were rated 65% good/excellent, down 1 point from the previous rating.

Editor’s note: Richard Brock, Corn & Soybean Digest's marketing editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.