By Anthony Greder
The U.S. corn harvest was slightly behind the five-year average pace while soybean harvest moved further ahead of normal last week, according to the USDA NASS weekly Crop Progress report released on Monday.
NASS estimated that, as of Sunday, Sept. 27, 15% of U.S. corn had been harvested, 1 percentage point behind the average pace of 16%. “Iowa’s corn harvest was 12% done, Nebraska’s was 14% finished, Illinois’ corn harvest was 13% complete but well below the average of 24%, and Minnesota corn was just 6% harvested,” said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.
Corn reaching maturity remained 10 percentage points ahead of normal at 75% as of Sunday compared to the five-year average of 65%. “Corn maturity percentages in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin were well above average,” Mantini said.
NASS estimated that 61% of the corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, unchanged from the previous week.
While corn harvest continued to run slightly slower than normal, soybean harvest pulled further ahead of the average pace. NASS estimated that 20% of soybeans were harvested as of Sunday, up 14 percentage points from the previous week and 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 15%. Soybean development also remained ahead of normal with 74% of the crop dropping leaves, 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 69%.
“The percentages of soybeans dropping leaves in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin were well above the average pace,” Mantini said. “Iowa soybeans were 30% harvested, Minnesota was 31% done, and Nebraska and South Dakota were each 29% harvested, well above their five-year averages.”
The condition of soybeans was estimated at 64% good to excellent, up 1 percentage point from 63% the previous week.
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