May 3, 2011

USDA releases Crop Progress report for 2011

The USDA has released its Crop Progress report on May 2, which states that the country's corn-planting rate is lagging behind 2010's progress by 53%.

Thirteen percent of the corn in the top 18 producing states has been planted according to the report. Although it is a 4% improvement from last week, nationally the 2011 corn planting is 27% behind the five-year average and 53% behind 2010's progress.

North Carolina (88%) and Texas (79%) continue to lead the states in planting.  Colorado (18%), Kansas (41%), Kentucky (17%), Missouri (32%), Nebraska (15%), and Tennessee (38%) reported percentages above the national average. Nine states fall below the national average of 13%.
 

North Dakota is the only state to have yet to begin planting. More than half of the reporting states indicated less than 1% improvement from last week's report. Planting is more than 70% behind last year's pace in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois.

Corn has emerged in 5% of the states, which is 4% behind the five-year average and 13% behind 2010's pace. North Carolina (59%) and Texas (57%) reported the highest percentages of emerged corn.  North Carolina is the only state to report a higher percentage of corn emerged than both its state's 2010 report and five-year average. Of the nine states reporting emerged corn, just three - Illinois (3%), Nebraska (1%) and Ohio (1%) - fell below the national average.