September 9, 2008
US corn and soy crop conditions stabilise, reaches year-ago levels
Corn and soy crop conditions have finally caught up with last year's levels after declining conditions in August, according to the USDA, which rated crop conditions on Sep 7 unchanged from a week ago.
In its weekly Crop Progress report, USDA rated 61 percent of the corn crop and 57 percent of the soy crop as good or excellent, unchanged from last week. At this time last year, 61 percent of the corn crop and 56 percent of the soybean crop were rated good or excellent.
Both crops, however, remained behind in maturity.
USDA said 62 percent of the corn had reached the dent stage, compared to 87 percent by this time last year and the five-year average of 79 percent. It rated 11 percent of the corn crop as mature, compared to 38 percent mature at this time last year and the five-year average of 28 percent mature.
USDA said just 10 percent of the soybean crop was dropping leaves, compared to 27 percent by this time last year and the five-year average of 21 percent.
