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USDA Crop Progress: Wheat Crop Improves.

USDA Crop Progress Report

According to USDA, the winter wheat crop condition rating improved slightly last week but remains well below year ago levels.

As of Sunday, 36% of the crop is in good to excellent condition, up 2% on the week but down 25% from this time last year. 34% of winter wheat is rated fair, while 30% is in poor to very poor shape.

35% of this year’s oat crop has been planted, compared to 58% a year ago and the five year average of 41% and 31% has emerged, compared to 36% last year and 32% on average.

Rice is 17% planted, compared to 35% a year ago and 20% on average, with 9% emerged, compared to 8% last year and 5% on average.

5% of cotton is planted, compared to 9% a year ago and 7% on average, and 16% of sorghum has been planted, compared to 19% both this time last year and on the five year average.

USDA’s next national crop progress report is out Monday, April 15 at 4 PM Eastern/3 PM Central.


Trending Video

No-Till vs Tillage: Why Neighboring Fields Are World Apart

Video: No-Till vs Tillage: Why Neighboring Fields Are World Apart

“No-till means no yield.”

“No-till soils get too hard.”

But here’s the real story — straight from two fields, same soil, same region, totally different outcomes.

Ray Archuleta of Kiss the Ground and Common Ground Film lays it out simply:

Tillage is intrusive.

No-till can compact — but only when it’s missing living roots.

Cover crops are the difference-maker.

In one field:

No-till + covers ? dark soil, aggregates, biology, higher organic matter, fewer weeds.

In the other:

Heavy tillage + no covers ? starving soil, low diversity, more weeds, fragile structure.

The truth about compaction?

Living plants fix it.

Living roots leak carbon, build aggregates, feed microbes, and rebuild structure — something steel never can.

Ready to go deeper into the research behind no-till yields, rotations, and profitability?