Sep 02, 2015
U.S. Crop Conditions Hold Steady or Decline Slightly
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Corn - The condition of the 2015 U.S. corn crop declined 1% last week to 68% rated good to excellent. Six states indicated that the corn condition had improved last week and 9 states indicated that the corn condition had declined. Most of the improvements were found in the northern and eastern locations while most of the declines were found in the central and western locations. The top five rated corn states are: Minnesota, Tennessee, Kentucky, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The five states with the lowest rated corn are: North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.
The condition of the U.S. corn crop has varied very little over the last 10 weeks. It continues to be a story of the "haves" (western and northern Corn Belt) and the "have nots" (eastern Corn Belt). With the hotter and dryer conditions forecasted for this week, I am expecting to see a 1-2% drop in next week's corn rating.
Soybeans - The condition of the 2015 U.S. soybean crop held steady last week at 63% rated good to excellent. Nine states indicated that the soybean condition had improved last week while 5 states indicated that the soybean condition had declined last week with 4 states unchanged Most of the improvements were found in the northern and eastern locations while most of the declines were found in the central and southern location. The top five rated soybean states are: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Iowa, and Kentucky. The five states with the lowest rated soybeans are: Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, and a tie between Illinois and Louisiana.
The condition of the soybean crop has changed very little as well over the past 10 weeks and I think the soybean rating will decline next week as well by 1-2%.
Soil Moisture - The nation's soils dried out a little last week with only three states indicating that the topsoil moisture improved last week (Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) and 14 states indicated that the topsoil moisture declined last week. The five states with the wettest soils are: Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Tennessee. The five states with the driest soils are: Louisiana, North Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Nebraska.
With the heavy rains that fell in Iowa last week, it's no surprise that Iowa is now the state with the wettest soils. The overall pattern continues to be for declining soil moisture and with the hot temperatures forecasted for this week, the drying trend should continue this week as well.