Corn harvest is on track with the season average pace, while soybean progress is a little ahead despite rain delays in some of the top producing states, according to the weekly Crop Progress report released today by USDA.

Condition ratings for the corn crop pretty much held steady over the past week, while ratings for soybeans improved.

As of Sunday, 18 percent of the corn crop was harvested nationally. That is exactly even with the five-year average, and three points ahead of last year at this date. Soybean harvest stands at 19 percent of completion, nationally, which is five points ahead of the usual pace and two points ahead of last year at this date.

USDA rated 52 percent of the corn crop good or excellent, steady with last week. Soybean ratings, though, were higher, with 55 percent rated good or excellent compared with 53 percent last week.

Progress in Corn Belt states

Iowa farmers seem to be focusing their efforts on harvesting beans. As of Sunday, 27 percent of beans were cut in the state, progressing rapidly since last week when 7 percent of the crop was in the bin. That’s also well ahead of the five-year average of 13 percent. Their progress in harvesting corn is two points behind the five-year average at 7 percent complete.

In Illinois, corn and soybean harvest was well underway until a rain delay late last week. Still, 30 percent of the corn crop there is harvested, well ahead of the usual pace, and 19 percent of beans are cut. That’s just ahead of the usual progress there.

In Indiana, heavy rains over the weekend were expected to delay harvest activities for several days in some areas of the state, according to the Indiana field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Harvest of corn and soybeans made some progress early last week with the best progress for corn being made in the southern region and for soybeans in the northern. All together, Indiana growers have 13 percent of their corn harvested, even with the usual pace, and 13 percent of their beans harvested, one point behind the five-year average pace.

Good news ahead with Midwest weather

Looking ahead at the weather forecast, there is a lot of good news following the harvest-stalling rains, according to Freese-Notis Weather. Today and tomorrow look dry in the region before some rain falls on Wednesday and into a part of Thursday.

That rain does not look especially heavy. The Freese-Notis forecast is for an extended period of dry weather to get started for the end of this work-week and into next week.

“The overall weather pattern continues to look much warmer than normal in the Midwest as we head into the month of October,” says Freese-Notis meteorologist Craig Solberg. “We will see Wednesday’s rains followed by a big cool-down in temperatures, but I have doubts as to whether really anyone will see any sub-32 degree temperatures on Thursday morning. That will be the only threat of a freeze anywhere in the Midwest for the entire 10-day forecast period.”

Crop damage from Rita not yet known

The Texas field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service noted that as Hurricane Rita made landfall along the Texas-Louisiana border, heavy rains, high winds and flooding occurred. But the extent of damage to crops was believed to be limited because most had already been harvested prior to the storm.

The Louisiana field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service noted the full extent of the damage from Hurricane Rita is not known yet, however, and the crop conditions in this report may not reflect their full extent. Heavy rains and powerful winds were reported across the state. Rainfall from Hurricane Rita ranged from 5-15 inches throughout Louisiana.

Crop damage is being assessed, and the first quantitative evaluations of loss will be reflected in the October 12, 2005, Crop Production Report, the Louisiana field office said.

Source: Article on Agriculture Online.

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