Harvest progress has picked up some steam over the last week, according to USDA.
USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey says the weekly Crop Progress Report released Monday afternoon showed the US corn crop was 15 percent harvested as of September 27th, which is one percentage point behind the five-year average but ahead of last year?s 10 percent.
?We see double digit harvest progress ranging from 10-20 percent in six midwestern states led by Missouri at 20 percent harvested,? Rippey said. ?We see also at least 10 percent harvested in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, and South Dakota. A lot of producers at this point ? and this is not unusual ? are going after soybeans during this period of wide-open weather. The soybean numbers reflect that.?
And, there has been rapid soybean harvest progress over the last week. The USDA report showed the soybean harvest at 20 percent complete, well ahead of last week?s mark at 6 percent. Additionally, the soybean crop is near the end of the season as 74 percent of the crop is dropping leaves.
?In some of the areas in the Western Corn Belt where the crop has matured earlier, we see a rapid harvest pace,? Rippey said. ?In fact, at least a quarter of the crop to nearly one third of the crop harvested in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and the Dakotas by September 27th. All of those ? except Minnesota and North Dakota ? are more than twice the average pace.?
?In Iowa,? Rippey continued, ?we see particularly advanced progress as (beans) are 30 percent harvested. The five-year average is 8 percent. Nebraska and South Dakota are both 29 percent harvested, more than twice the five-year average pace of 13 percent.?
For overall quality, USDA says corn is stable while soybean quality has improved.
