By Anthony Greder
Fieldwork slowed last week, but harvest progress for both corn and soybeans managed to stay slightly ahead of the five-year averages and winter wheat planting matched the average pace, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.
CORN
-- Harvest progress: Corn harvest moved ahead 7 percentage points to reach 88% complete as of Sunday, Nov. 12. That is 4 percentage points behind last year's pace of 92% but 2 percentage points ahead of 86% for the five-year average. "Illinois' corn is 95% harvested, and Iowa is at 94%," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. "Michigan shows the slowest progress at 52% harvested."
SOYBEANS
-- Harvest progress: Soybean harvest progressed just 4 percentage points last week to reach 95% complete as of Sunday. That is 1 point behind last year's 96% but 4 points ahead of the five-year average of 91%. "Most Northern states are close to finished, but Michigan is at 83% harvested and Wisconsin is at 89%," Hultman noted.
WINTER WHEAT
-- Planting progress: Winter wheat planting advanced 3 percentage points last week to reach 93% complete as of Sunday. That is 2 percentage points behind last year's 95% but equal to the five-year average.
-- Crop progress: 81% of the crop had emerged as of Sunday, 1 point ahead of both last year's pace and the five-year average of 80%.
-- Crop condition: Winter wheat condition was rated 47% good to excellent, down 3 percentage points from 50% the previous week but still well above 32% at this time a year ago. "Ninety-seven percent of winter wheat in Kansas has been planted, and 33% of it is rated poor to very poor," Hultman said.
WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
Farmers across much of the country should see some favorable weather for fieldwork this week, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.
"Other than those near the Gulf Coast, it should be a pretty good week to get out into the field and get some work done," Baranick said. "Temperatures are well above normal for this week, being some 10-20 degrees above the long-term averages for both highs and lows for most. Those near the Gulf Coast will see some rain trekking across through about Thursday, which could help with the drought situation, at least a little bit. We will see a cold front go through the country later this week. It'll bring temperatures down a little bit, and there will be some showers, mostly for the Eastern Corn Belt, which could slow fieldwork down just a bit in some spots. Otherwise, it should be a mostly good week to be in the field.
"But we're expecting some bigger changes this weekend. We'll see a trough move through the Southwest and into the Plains where a storm system is likely to develop. Though models do not agree, the forecast is for widespread showers from Canada to Mexico. That could bring a decent swath of rain to winter wheat areas across the country, which would be helpful there. The system will shift eastward early next week and could bring some decent precipitation to the rest of the country going into Thanksgiving week. Cooler temperatures will likely follow, as well, which could make it more difficult to wrap up harvest and fieldwork."
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