About 2/3 of the nation's corn crop is out of the field, while farmers have caught up with the average pace with soybean harvest, according to Monday's USDA-NASS Crop Progress report.
Eighty-three percent of the nation's soybean crop has been harvested. That's a 13% jump over a week ago, with progress driven largely warm, dry weather conditions that could be on their way out this week, forecasters say. Farmers in Iowa have 90% of that state's soybeans harvested while Nebraska farmers are just 7% away from the finish line, according to Monday's report.
“The weather was ideal this past week as it allowed fields to dry and farmers took advantage, with harvest progress reaching 61% of corn and 91% of soybeans. Corn harvest is now just 10 days behind the five year average and soybean harvest is now slightly ahead of average pace,” says Iowa ag secretary Bill Northey.
For corn, the 65% harvest completion level is an almost 20% improvement over the previous week, but remains almost 10% behind the normal pace. All Corn Belt states saw double-digit gains in corn harvest progress in the last week.
"While the corn harvest is still lagging behind the normal pace, significant progress was made last week thanks to mostly dry weather. For instance, 30% of the corn crop in Minnesota and 25% of the corn crop in Iowa was harvested in just the last week alone," says MDA Weather Services senior ag meteorologist Kyle Tapley. "The soybean harvest is nearly complete in the northern Plains and northwestern Midwest, but is lagging behind in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky."
Look for spotty progress in the next week for both corn and soybean harvest, Tapley adds, based largely on a weather forecast that features showers in parts of the Corn Belt, mid-South and Plains. But, all-in-all, decent harvest strides will likely still be made in the next week.
"Showers in the southern and eastern Midwest this week will prevent rapid harvest progress in those areas, but dry weather in the western Midwest and central Plains will be quite favorable for harvesting."
Both numbers were slightly higher than previous trade estimates, which were around 80% completion for soybeans and around 60% for corn.
