May 15, 2018
U.S. Planting - Corn Slightly Slow, Soybeans Ahead of Average
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
There is a corridor of wet weather stretching west to east from eastern South Dakota across northern Iowa, southern Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinois, northern Indiana, and northern Ohio. It is approximately from Des Moines on the south to Minneapolis on the north. Both north and south of that corridor, they could probably use a rain. There is a stationary frontal boundary lying across this corridor and the near term forecast is calling for more rain in the same area.
Corn - As of Sunday, the 2018 U.S. corn crop was 62% planted compared to 68% last year and 63% for the 5-year average. Corn emergence was 28% compared to 29% last year and 27% average. The growing season starts when the corn emerges and as you can see, the corn emergence is right where it should be for this time of the year.
The fastest corn planting is in Missouri where 91% of the corn has been planted (average is 76%), Illinois with 90% planted (average is 70%), Indiana with 73% planted (average is 52%), Nebraska with 72% planted (average is 70%).
The slowest corn planting continues to be the northwestern Corn Belt with South Dakota 21% planted (average is 61%), North Dakota 35% planted (average is 44%), and Minnesota 40% planted (average is 65%).
The corn planting in Iowa is 65%, which is just a little slower than the average of 70%. Northwest and north-central Iowa are the slowest at 43% and 26% respectively. Planting is fastest in south-central and southeastern Iowa at 86% and 91% respectively.
In general, I am not too concerned about the 2018 corn planting. The planting is well advanced in some states and behind in other states - sounds sort of normal to me. The states to watch going forward are South Dakota and Minnesota.
Soybeans - As of Sunday, the 2018 U.S. soybean crop was 35% planted compared to 29% last year and 26% for the five-year average. Soybean emergence is 10% compared to 6% last year and 7% for the 5-year average.
The fastest soybean planting is in Illinois where 66% of the soybeans have been planted (average is 24%), Indiana is 53% planted (average is 19%), Missouri is 42% planted (average is 18%), Nebraska is 41% planted (average is 29%), Iowa is 33% planted (average is 28%), and Ohio is 31% planted (average is 19%).
The soybean planting is the slowest in the northwestern Corn Belt where South Dakota is 4% planted (average is 22%), Minnesota is 11% planted (average is 37%), and North Dakota is 12% planted (average is 21%).
Soybean planting in the Delta is ahead of schedule and I don't see much to be concerned about for the soybean planting except for maybe South Dakota and Minnesota.