Favorable weather conditions allowed U.S. corn producers to harvest another 9% of their crop last week, but high crop moisture levels continued to limit harvest progress.

Monday afternoon’s USDA weekly crop update estimated that 88% of the U.S. corn crop had been harvested by Sunday, up from 79% a week earlier.

There were no nationwide comparisons for last year of the five-year average as USDA has normally discontinued crop progress updates by this time of year.

In the top corn state of Iowa, harvest was 94% done as of Sunday, up from 87% a week earlier, while in the No. 2 growing state of Illinois, harvest reached 85% complete, up from 72% a week earlier.

Harvest continues to lag worst in North Dakota, where producers had combined 53% of their crop by Sunday against 79% a year earlier and a five-year average of 93%.

Snowfall across many areas of North Dakota slowed harvest activity last week, although freezing temperatures improved field conditions in wet areas of the state.

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