Al-Corn Clean Fuels

This article was originally posted at 3:05 p.m. CDT on Monday, Sept. 28. It was last updated at 3:38 p.m. CDT on Monday, Sept. 28.

OMAHA (DTN) -- The U.S. corn harvest was slightly behind the five-year average pace while soybean harvest moved further ahead of normal last week, according to the USDA NASS weekly Crop Progress report released on Monday.

NASS estimated that, as of Sunday, Sept. 27, 15% of U.S. corn had been harvested, 1 percentage point behind the average pace of 16%. "Iowa's corn harvest was 12% done, Nebraska's was 14% finished, Illinois' corn harvest was 13% complete but well below the average of 24%, and Minnesota corn was just 6% harvested," said DTN Senior Analyst Dana Mantini.

Corn reaching maturity remained 10 percentage points ahead of normal at 75% as of Sunday compared to the five-year average of 65%. "Corn maturity percentages in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin were well above average," Mantini said.

NASS estimated that 61% of the corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, unchanged from the previous week.

While corn harvest continued to run slightly slower than normal, soybean harvest pulled further ahead of the average pace. NASS estimated that 20% of soybeans were harvested as of Sunday, up 14 percentage points from the previous week and 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 15%. Soybean development also remained ahead of normal with 74% of the crop dropping leaves, 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 69%.

"The percentages of soybeans dropping leaves in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin were well above the average pace," Mantini said. "Iowa soybeans were 30% harvested, Minnesota was 31% done, and Nebraska and South Dakota were each 29% harvested, well above their five-year averages."

The condition of soybeans was estimated at 64% good to excellent, up 1 percentage point from 63% the previous week.

Winter wheat planting continued to run slightly ahead of the normal pace, at 35% complete as of Sunday compared to the average of 33%. Ten percent of winter wheat had emerged, 2 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 8%.

"Kansas winter wheat was 35% planted, well ahead of its usual pace," said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. "Last year's second-largest producer, Washington, was 59% planted."

To view weekly crop progress reports issued by National Ag Statistics Service offices in individual states, visit http://www.nass.usda.gov/…. Look for the U.S. map in the "Find Data and Reports by" section and choose the state you wish to view in the drop-down menu. Then look for that state's "Crop Progress & Condition" report.

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Mature	75	59	39	65
Corn Harvested	15	8	10	16
Soybeans Dropping Leaves	74	59	49	69
Soybeans Harvested	20	6	6	15
Winter Wheat Planted	35	20	34	33
Winter Wheat Emerged	10	3	8	8
Cotton Bolls Opening	66	57	73	66
Cotton Harvested	13	11	15	14
Sorghum Coloring	96	92	94	94
Sorghum Mature	62	51	51	58
Sorghum Harvested	31	27	29	33
Rice Harvested	57	47	65	70



National Crop Condition Summary
(VP=Very Poor; P=Poor; F=Fair; G=Good; E=Excellent)
	This Week					Last Week					Last Year
	VP	P	F	G	E	VP	P	F	G	E	VP	P	F	G	E
Corn	5	9	25	47	14	5	9	25	47	14	4	10	29	46	11
Soybean	3	7	26	51	13	3	7	27	51	12	3	10	32	46	9
Cotton	10	14	33	36	7	9	18	28	35	10	3	17	40	34	6
Sorghum	6	12	31	40	11	5	11	33	40	11	2	6	27	50	15

Anthony Greder can be reached at anthony.greder@dtn.com