USDA crop progress: Soybean harvest outpaces corn

Both crops make good headway this past week.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

October 4, 2021

2 Min Read
Dry corn in a field against blue sky
Rachel Schutte

The latest crop progress report from USDA, out Monday afternoon and covering the week through Oct. 3, showed this fall’s corn and soybean harvests are running neck-and-neck, with soybeans taking a narrow lead, according to the agency’s latest data. Both crops are getting harvested more swiftly than the prior five-year average.

Corn harvest moved to 29% completion through Sunday, mirroring analyst expectations. That’s up from 18% the prior week and seven points ahead of the prior five-year average of 22%. And 88% of the crop is fully mature, up from 74% a week ago and faster than the prior five-year average of 77%.

Corn quality ratings held steady, as expected, with 59% of the crop still in good-to-excellent condition. Another 26% of the crop is rated fair, with the remaining 15% rated poor or very poor.

Soybean harvest progress jumped from 16% completion a week ago up to 34% through Sunday. That’s two points above the average trade guess of 32% and eight points faster than the prior five-year average of 26%. Eighty-six percent of the crop is now dropping leaves, up from 75% last week and six points ahead of the prior five-year average of 80%.

Soybean quality ratings were mostly stable, with 58% of the crop rated in good-to-excellent condition, which was identical to analyst expectations ahead of today’s report. Another 28% is rated fair, with the remaining 14% rated poor or very poor.

Winter wheat plantings for the 2021/22 crop moved from 34% a week ago up to 47%. That was two points below the average trade guess of 49% but still slightly ahead of the prior five-year average of 46%. State-by-state progress varies widely among the top 18 production states, from 6% in Missouri all the way up to 82% in Nebraska.

Nineteen percent of the crop is now emerged, up from 9% last week and just below the prior five-year average of 20%.

Click here to read the latest USDA crop progress report for additional information on cotton, sorghum, sugarbeets and more.

About the Author

Ben Potter

Senior editor, Farm Futures

Senior Editor Ben Potter brings two decades of professional agricultural communications and journalism experience to Farm Futures. He began working in the industry in the highly specific world of southern row crop production. Since that time, he has expanded his knowledge to cover a broad range of topics relevant to agriculture, including agronomy, machinery, technology, business, marketing, politics and weather. He has won several writing awards from the American Agricultural Editors Association, most recently on two features about drones and farmers who operate distilleries as a side business. Ben is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

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