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Corn Ratings Down, Emergence Jumps

Monday afternoon’s weekly USDA crop update indicated that U.S. corn crop conditions declined slightly last week, while crop emergence surged ahead of normal for both corn and soybeans.

The USDA rated U.S. corn conditions 62% good/excellent, down from 63% a week earlier and 68% a year earlier. Some 7% of the crop was rated poor/very poor.

The drop in conditions was due largely to dryness in the central/eastern Corn Belt. The good/excellent rating for the Illinois crop plunged 11 points to 60% good/excellent, which may raise market concerns about that key production state’s crop.

The dryness is worst in the key growing areas of central Illinois, where topsoil moisture is now rated 84% short/very short.

U.S. corn crop emergence jumped to 85%, trailing last year’s pace of 89%, but ahead of the five-year average of 80%. Minnesota crop emergence surged to 71% from only 38% a week earlier.

Soybean planting progress reached 81%, ahead of last year’s pace of 76% and the five-year average of 71%.

Soybean emergence reached 50%, three percentage points behind last year’s pace, but five points ahead of the average.

Soybean emergence continued to trail normal in the northwest Midwest, with only 17% of the Minnesota crop emerged, an average of 42%. Emergence was far advanced in Illinois at 82%, vs. an average of 51%.

Editors note: Richard Brock, The Corn and Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.

To see more market perspectives, visit Brock's Web site at www.brockreport.com.