Corn bears are excited to see the USDAs most recent planting estimates indicating that 71% of the U.S. crop is now in the ground, which is actually a fraction ahead of our traditional 5-year average pace. Remember, many traders including myself thought we would still be lagging a bit behind. There's really not a lot new or fresh in the headlines, so I included below the specific state-by state breakdown of planting and specifically how much each state was able to get planted last week.

It was interesting to see several big production states get over +30% of their corn acres planted in a one week time window. Also keep in mind that four large production states...Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota are all now running ahead of schedule. Illinois is 75% planted and very close to being considered at or ahead of their traditional pace. It's simply amazing how quickly the American farmer can now get the crop in the ground.  There's talk we will start to see U.S. corn crop condition ratings in a couple of weeks.

With the U.S. looking as if it will easily have 80% of its corn planted by the third week in May, a large portion of the trade will start to take a more relaxed attitude. As a producer I continue to keep all hedges in place and suspect we may soon test the lower end of the recent trading range.                      

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