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USDA crop progress: Corn and soybean quality slide lower

One quarter of this season’s winter wheat crop has now been harvested

Ben Potter, Senior editor

June 21, 2022

2 Min Read
harvesting winter wheat crop
Getty/iStockphoto

Abundant hot, dry weather this past week did a bit of damage to corn, soybeans and winter wheat, per the latest crop progress report from USDA, out Tuesday afternoon and covering the week through June 19. Corn and soybean ratings each spilled two points lower, with winter wheat quality easing a point lower.

Corn conditions dropped two points last week, matching analyst expectations. Through June 19, USDA marked 70% of the crop in good-to-excellent condition. Another 24% was rated fair (up a point from last week), with the remaining 6% rated poor or very poor (also up a point from last week). Pennsylvania has the highest quality ratings among the top 18 production states, with 91% rated in good-to-excellent condition.

Physiologically, 95% of the crop is now emerged, up from 88% a week ago and mirroring the prior five-year average. USDA has only marked one of the top 18 production states (North Carolina) as having 100% emergence so far.

Soybean planting progress moved from 88% complete a week ago up to 94% through Sunday, which was one point lower than trade expectations. It’s also behind 2021’s pace of 97% but slightly ahead of the prior five-year average of 93%. And 83% of the crop is now emerged, up from 70% a week ago and slightly behind the prior five-year average of 84%.

Soybean crop conditions fell two points, with 68% of the crop now rated in good-to-excellent condition. Another 26% is rated fair (up a point from last week), with the remaining 6% rated poor or very poor (also up a point from last week).

Spring wheat plantings are nearly complete, reaching 98% through Sunday. Compare that to 2021’s pace and the prior five-year average, which are both 100%. And 89% of the crop is now emerged, versus the prior five-year average of 97%.

Spring wheat quality ratings took a big step forward, moving from 54% rated in good-to-excellent condition a week ago up to 59% as of June 19. Another 35% is rated fair (down two points from a week ago), with the remaining 6% rated poor or very poor (down three points from last week).

Winter wheat quality ratings didn’t fare as well, meantime. Thirty percent of the crop is now rated in good-to-excellent condition, sliding a point lower from last week. Another 27% is rated fair (unchanged from last week), with the remaining 43% rated poor or very poor (up a point from last week).

Winter wheat harvest progress moved from 10% last week to 25% as of Sunday. That means this season’s harvest is progressing more quickly than 2021’s pace of 15% and the prior five-year average of 22%. But only 9 of the top 18 production states have made measurable progress so far, per USDA.

Click here for more data from the latest USDA crop progress report, including the agency’s observations on days suitable for fieldwork and topsoil moisture conditions.

About the Author

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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