Warm, dry conditions allowed the corn and soybean harvests to advance with corn harvest at 93% done, up 1 point from the five –year average, while soybeans were 97%, up 2 points from the average, USDA said on Monday.

Winter wheat rating improved 1 point to 59% good to excellent (49% good, 10% excellent), which was better than last year’s 52% for the same week.  

Iowa’s corn harvest was at 94%, compared with the 94% five-year average while the soybean harvest there was at 97%, compared with the 99% average. The state had nearly a full week for fieldwork.

Warm, dry conditions allowed the corn and soybean harvests to advance with corn harvest at 93% done while soybeans harvest was 97% done. (Photo: Vstock LLC/Thinkstock)

“While harvest is winding down in much of the state, southwest and south central Iowa still have over 10% of the corn crop and almost 10% of the soybean crop remaining to be harvested,” Iowa said.

In Illinois, corn harvest was at 97%, versus the 96% average. Soybeans there were at 100%, versus the 97% average.

In Indiana, corn harvest was at 94% versus the 89% average and soybeans were at 96% versus the 95% average.

“Due to the mostly dry week, both corn and bean growers are nearly complete with harvest. Most of the remaining stands are in fields that are too wet to harvest,” Indiana said.

Winter wheat planting is at 94% and emergence at 84%, versus the respective 95% and 84% averages.

Improvement to wheat from a week ago was noted in Oklahoma, up 2 points to 56% good/excellent, Texas, up 4 to 43%, and Montana, up 2 to 78%. Kansas wheat was unchanged at 56%, while Colorado dropped 3 points to 51% and Nebraska dropped 2 to 53%.

“Reporters in eastern counties note that as winter wheat continues to grow during the warm weather, soil moisture is rapidly depleting and stands are not receiving sufficient moisture to sustain this growth," Colorado said.

Kansas also was warm and dry, but wheat’s condition there was stable. The state said topsoil moisture was 11% very short, 26% short, 60% adequate and 3% surplus.

Nationally, sorghum was 90% harvested versus the 86% average.