Soybean quality holds steady for week ending July 11.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

July 12, 2021

2 Min Read
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Jim Craigmyle/Getty Images Plus

The latest batch of crop progress data from USDA, out Monday afternoon and covering the week through July 11, showed corn, soybean and spring wheat quality ratings were steady to slightly improved versus a week ago. Also of note this past week, the winter wheat harvest has passed the halfway mark but the overall pace remains sluggish relative to the prior five-year average.

Corn quality tilted a point higher, moving from 64% rated in good-to-excellent condition a week ago up to 65% through Sunday. Another 27% of the crop is rated fair (unchanged from last week), with the remaining 8% rated poor or very poor (down a point from last week).

Physiologically, 26% of the corn crop is now at the silking growth stage, jumping from 10% a week ago. That’s identical to 2020’s pace but a bit behind the prior five-year average of 30%. And 3% of the crop is now at dough stage, which mirrors the prior five-year average.

Soybean quality ratings held steady from a week ago, with 59% of the crop rated in good-to-excellent condition through Sunday. Another 30% of the crop is rated fair, with the remaining 11% rated poor or very poor. Those ratings were also identical to the prior week’s numbers.

Physiologically, nearly half (46%) of the crop is now blooming, up from 29% last week. That’s the same as 2020’s pace of 46% and six points above the prior five-year average of 40%. And 10% of the crop is setting pods, up from 3% a week ago and consistent with the prior five-year average.

Spring wheat quality ratings continue to shift lower, meantime. Just 16% of the crop is rated in good-to-excellent condition, which is consistent with the prior week’s total. Even so, 29% of the crop is rated fair (down from 34% a week ago), while the percentage of the crop rated poor or very poor jumped another five points higher, to 55%.

Physiologically, 83% of the crop is now headed, up from 69% a week ago and a bit above the prior five-year average of 81%. Two of the top six production states – Minnesota and Washington – have reached 100% for this growth stage.

The 2020/21 winter wheat harvest continues to make forward momentum, moving from 45% complete a week ago to 59% through July 11. But that’s still moderately behind 2020’s pace of 66% and the prior five-year average of 65%.

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

About the Author(s)

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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