USDA Weekly Crop Progress     04/22 15:54

   Crop Progress: Corn 12% Planted, Soybeans 8% Planted; Winter Winter 
Condition Drops 5 Points

   Nationwide, corn planting reached 12% complete and soybean planting reached 
8% as of Sunday, April 21, both slightly ahead of the five-year averages. 
Winter wheat conditions were rated 50% good to excellent, down 5 points from 
the previous week.

Anthony Greder
DTN Managing Editor

   This article was originally published at 3:03 p.m. CDT on Monday, April 22. 
It was last updated with additional information at 3:54 p.m. CDT on Monday, 
April 22.

   **

   OMAHA (DTN) -- The winter wheat crop's good-to-excellent condition rating 
dropped 5 percentage points nationwide last week, likely due to dry conditions 
and possible frost damage in some areas, USDA NASS said in its weekly Crop 
Progress report on Monday. Meanwhile, corn and planting progress continued 
ahead of their five-year average paces last week.

   A stretch of wetter weather forecast to begin later this week and continue 
into early May could flip the situation, though, with winter wheat benefiting 
from the moisture but row-crop planting facing delays.

   CORN

   -- Planting progress: Corn planting moved ahead 6 percentage points last 
week to reach 12% complete nationwide as of Sunday. That's now equal to last 
year's progress and 2 points ahead of the five-year average of 10%. "Texas corn 
is 68% planted and Missouri is 47% done, while major corn-producing states Iowa 
and Illinois are 13% and 11%, respectively," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana 
Mantini.

   -- Crop development: 3% of corn was emerged as of Sunday, 1 point ahead of 
both last year and the five-year average of 2%.

   SOYBEANS

   -- Planting progress: 8% of soybeans were planted nationwide as of Sunday. 
That is equal to last year's pace and is 4 percentage points ahead of the 
five-year average of 4%. "Louisiana's soybean crop is 42% planted compared to 
the average of just 25%, and Mississippi is 28% planted -- 5 percentage points 
above the average," Mantini noted. "Illinois is 11% planted, and Iowa is just 
8% planted."

   WINTER WHEAT

   -- Crop development: 17% of winter wheat was headed as of Sunday. That is 1 
point ahead of 16% at this time last year and 4 points ahead of the five-year 
average of 13%.

   -- Crop condition: 50% of the crop was rated in good-to-excellent condition, 
down 5 points from 55% the previous week but still up from 26% a year ago. 
Sixteen percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor, down from 41% a year 
ago. "Major winter wheat producer Illinois' crop is rated 83% good to 
excellent, with Kansas' crop at 36% good to excellent and 26% rated poor to 
very poor," Mantini said.

   SPRING WHEAT

   -- Planting progress: 15% of spring wheat was planted as of Sunday, 11 
points head of 4% last year and 5 points ahead of the five-year average of 10%. 
"Washington's spring wheat is 60% planted, and Idaho is 55% planted," Mantini 
said. "Minnesota is 18% planted, well ahead of its 3% average, while North 
Dakota is just 7% planted. South Dakota, at 40% planted, is well ahead of its 
21% average."

   -- Crop development: 2% of spring wheat was emerged, 1 point ahead of 2% 
last year but 1 point behind the five-year average of 3%.

   THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

   Farmers across the nation's midsection will have a few suitable days for 
fieldwork this week before an extended period of wet weather sets in, according 
to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

   "A very active pattern is about to set up across the middle of the U.S., and 
that's going to bring some very wet weather to much of the Plains and Midwest 
later this week and probably the first half or so of May," Baranick said. "I 
will never tell farmers what to do, but if they have some time over the first 
half of this week to get some work done, I would take the opportunity. It might 
be hard to find better conditions for a while.

   "What is going to change is that a ridge will generally build over the East 
while we see system after system in the pipeline move into the West, develop, 
and then move from the Central or Southern Plains through the Midwest and Great 
Lakes. That overall background situation is what will drive multiple storm 
systems to move through ag country starting on Thursday and then come at a 
rapid pace for at least two weeks. These systems will come with widespread 
showers and thunderstorms, heavy rain, severe weather, and strong background 
winds, creating hazards for fieldwork and potentially for winter crops. At the 
same time, this rain is needed over most of the Plains and western Midwest, so 
it is a kind of double-edged sword.

   "Not all areas will get heavy rain out of each storm. But with breaks likely 
being short-lived, this could push back progress a bit into May. That is not 
overall a bad thing for most areas, but it could have an impact.

   "Winter wheat producers in the southwestern Plains finally have some really 
good chances at meaningful rain. It may not be perfect, but the setup does 
favor increased and above-normal precipitation over the next couple of weeks."

   To view weekly crop progress reports issued by National Ag Statistics 
Service offices in individual states, visit http://www.nass.usda.gov/. Look for 
the U.S. map in the "Find Data and Reports by" section and choose the state you 
wish to view in the drop-down menu. Then look for that state's "Crop Progress & 
Condition" report.

   **

   Editor's Note: How are your crops looking? Are they better, worse or right 
on track with USDA NASS' observations this week? Send us your comments, and 
we'll include them in next week's Crop Progress report story. You can email 
comments to Anthony.greder@dtn.com or direct message him on Twitter 
@AGrederDTN. Please include the location of where you farm.  

National Crop Progress Summary
                                        This     Last     Last     5-Year
                                        Week     Week     Year     Avg.
Corn Planted                            12       6        12       10
Corn Emerged                            3        NA       2        2
Soybeans Planted                        8        3        8        4
Cotton Planted                          11       8        11       11
Winter Wheat Headed                     17       11       16       13
Spring Wheat Planted                    15       7        4        10
Spring Wheat Emerged                    2        NA       1        3
Sorghum Planted                         17       14       17       18
Oats Planted                            51       43       40       42
Oats Emerged                            35       30       27       28
Barley Planted                          24       11       9        19
Barley Emerged                          2        NA       1        3
Rice Planted                            59       44       47       35
Rice Emerged                            33       18       27       20

   **

National Crop Condition Summary
(VP=Very Poor; P=Poor; F=Fair; G=Good; E=Excellent)
                     This Week           Last Week          Last Year
                     VP  P   F   G   E   VP  P  F   G   E   VP  P   F   G   E
Winter Wheat         5   11  34  43  7   4   9  32  47  8   18  23  33  23  3

   Anthony Greder can be reached at anthony.greder@dtn.com

   Follow him on social platform X @AGrederDTN




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