About 3 percent of the national corn crop is in the ground, the USDA says
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
American soybean producers have started their 2021 planting season.
About 3 percent of the national soybean crop is in the ground, the USDA’s April 20 Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin says.
This figure is one percentage point higher than farmers’ progress this time in 2020.
Eighteen states account for about 96 percent of national soybean acres in the United States.
Of those, Louisiana farmers have planted the most soybeans as of April 20.
Growers there have planted 10 percent of their soybeans. Last year at this time farmers had seeded 23 percent.
The only other state to report double digit progress in soybean planting is Mississippi. Farmers in that state have planted 15 percent of their soybean acres.
The U.S. corn crop is beginning to emerge.
About 2 percent of the crop is up, the USDA’s report says. Last year only 1 percent of the crop had emerged by this point.
Only six states are reporting emerged corn: Texas (51 percent), Tennessee (5 percent) and North Carolina (13 percent). Missouri, Kentucky and Kansas are each reporting 1 percent of their state corn crops emerged.
American corn farmers continue to seed as well.
About 8 percent of the corn crop has been planted, the USDA reports. This represents a 4 percent increase from last week’s report.
Farmers in Texas have planted 60 percent of their corn while North Carolina farmers have seeded 40 percent of their corn acres.
These numbers represent the highest among the 18 documented states.
Spring wheat planting continues across the U.S. as well.
About 19 percent of the crop is in the ground, the USDA reports. That figure is up 8 percent from last week and 12 percent from this time last year.
Six states (Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington), accounted for all of U.S. spring wheat acres in 2020.
Of those six, farmers in Washington are the furthest along with 71 percent of spring wheat planted.
Minnesota farmers have only planted 10 percent of their spring wheat.
The USDA will release its next Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin on April 27.