Early U.S. Corn Harvest Progress Ahead of Average

Sep 09, 2026

The American corn harvest is underway, with early progress slightly ahead of last year and the five-year average.

Tuesday's USDA crop progress report showed 5% of the nationwide corn crop in the bin as of Sunday, 1 point ahead of last year and 2 points ahead of average.

Most of the progress to date has occurred in Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. An estimated 3% of the Illinois crop was off as of Sunday, 2 points ahead of the state average, while Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and North Dakota had yet to report measurable harvest progress.

Corn maturity advanced rapidly, reaching 25% nationally, up from 13% a week earlier and slightly ahead of the 23% average. Illinois jumped to 29% mature from 11%, while Iowa reached 17% from 6% and Indiana 12% from 2%. Ohio advanced to 16% from 5%, North Dakota to 16% from 7%, while Michigan remained at zero.

Overall corn conditions slipped slightly, with 56% of the American crop rated good to excellent as of Sunday, down from 57% a week earlier. Iowa held steady at 77% good to excellent, while Illinois fell 3 points to 55%. Indiana was unchanged at 62%, Michigan slipped 1 point to 59% and Ohio held at 61%. North Dakota deteriorated more noticeably, falling 5 points to just 19% good to excellent.

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