Corn and soybean conditions remain steady nationwide, with development progressing near the five-year average. USDA reports 68 percent of the corn crop is rated good to excellent. Corn silking has reached 85 percent, and 35 percent is in the dough stage. Soybeans are holding at 67 percent good to excellent, with 80 percent blooming and 50 percent setting pods. USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says overall crop conditions are holding strong. “We had dropped down to 67 percent good to excellent on soybeans a couple of weeks ago. We have crept back up now to 68 percent good to excellent this week. Six percent are very poor to poor. So soybean condition remains quite good,” said Rippey. Spring wheat harvest is just getting underway, with 5 percent complete. The crop is 96 percent headed nationwide, but concerns persist in key growing areas. “Spring wheat condition currently only 49 percent good to excellent, 18 percent very poor to poor,” Rippey said. “The crop hurt by lingering drought in Montana—46 percent of the crop currently rated very poor to poor there—but that number has been surpassed this week by Washington State, where drought is coming on strong, hurting the crop late in the year. Forty-eight percent of Washington’s spring wheat is currently rated very poor to poor.” Meanwhile, pasture and range conditions saw a slight improvement, and topsoil and subsoil moisture levels remain mostly stable, though dryness lingers in parts of the Northern Plains and Northwest.
