US corn, soy planting advances as floodwaters recede

The condition of the US corn crop slightly improved while the planting of soy advanced, though it still lags from the five-year average, the USDA said Monday (June 23, 2008).

 

The generally improving weather have facilitated fieldwork and to some extent, crop development.

 

During the mid- to late-week period, warmer weather will expand across the Midwest, accompanied by a return to locally heavy showers, according to a forecast by Brad Rippey, an agricultural meteorologist with the USDA.

 

Dale Durchholz, senior market analyst at AgriVisor in Bloomington, Illinois, said that US has gone through enough dry weather that a little bit of rain would not hurt crop development.

 

The USDA said the good-to-excellent condition rating for the US corn crop was 59 percent, 2 percent above the previous week.

 

Sun and drier conditions allowed for continued spraying and growth of corn and soy crop areas unaffected by excessive moisture, said the Iowa Agricultural Statistics Service.

 

The most dramatic drops in corn crop ratings were noted in North Carolina and Texas, where the good-to-excellent ratings declined by 32 and 10 percent respectively.

 

The USDA said 95 percent of the corn crop has silked 2 percent versus the year-ago and five-year averages of 4 percent.

 

Meanwhile, soy planting has advanced with 91 percent of the crop planted, up from 84 percent last week but below the five-year average of 96 percent.

 

The good-to-excellent condition rating for the crop was 57 percent, up 1 percent from the previous week and on target with analysts' projections of no change to a 3-point increase.