USDA’s latest crop progress report, out Monday afternoon and covering the week through May 11, held plenty of interesting data to peel through. Of particular note, corn plantings were faster than expected after vaulting past the halfway mark. Soybean plantings were also faster than analysts were anticipating, while winter wheat quality ratings found a three-point boost.
Corn plantings shifted from 40% completion a week ago up to 62% as of Sunday. That was two points above the average trade guess issued before the report was released. It’s also noticeably above 2024’s pace of 47% and the prior five-year average of 56%.
Twenty-eight percent of the crop is now emerged, up from 11% a week ago. That’s moderately ahead of prior five-year average of 21%.
Soybean plantings moved from 30% last week up to 48% through May 11. That’s slightly above the average analyst estimate of 47%. It’s also noticeably above 2024’s pace of 34% and the prior five-year average of 37%.
And 17% of the crop is now emerged, up from 7% a week ago. That puts this year’s pace two points ahead of 2024 and six points ahead of the prior five-year average.
Plantings of some regional crops also continued to push forward this past week, including:
- Cotton at 28% (up from 21% last week)
- Sorghum at 26% (up from 23% last week)
- Rice at 80% (up from 73% last week)
- Peanuts at 34% (up from 18% last week)
- Sugarbeets at 91% (up from 83% last week)
Spring wheat plantings shifted from 44% last week up to 62% through Sunday. That was four points above the average trade guess of 62%. That’s moderately ahead of 2024’s pace of 59% and noticeably above the prior five-year average of 49%.
Winter wheat quality ratings were better than expected for the second consecutive week after trending three points higher, with 54% of the crop now in good-to-excellent condition. Analysts were expecting ratings to hold steady at 51% from the week before. Another 28% of the crop is rated fair (down three points from last week), with the remaining 18% rated poor or very poor (unchanged from last week).
Physiologically, 53% of the crop is now headed, up from 39% in the prior week. That’s slightly below 2024’s pace of 55% but otherwise well above the prior five-year average of 45%.
Get more data from today’s report, including a state-by-state look at topsoil and subsoil moisture, days suitable for fieldwork and more.