USDA Reports Good Seeding Progress
WASHINGTON - May 28/02 - STAT -- Good progress was made during the past week seeding this year';s crops, according to preliminary a crop condition report released by the USDA today.
Planting of the two major crops in the United States, corn and soybeans, remain behind last year's levels and the recent average rate of progress for these crops.
But growers were able to close the gap, advancing soybean planting 21 points to 51% complete, compared to 68% at this time last year and the average of 69%. Corn planting jumped forward 13 points to 83% complete, compared to 94% last year and on average.
Crops moving into the final stages of seeding include sugarbeets, with 98% in the ground, oats with seeding 94% complete in the United States and rice at 95% complete.
United States Seeding Progress
(per cent planted on May 26)
---------------------------------------------
: Week Ending :
:-----------------------: 1997-
:May 26,:May 19,:May 26,: 2001
: 2002 : 2002 : 2001 : Avg.
---------------------------------------------
Corn : 83 70 94 94
Soybean : 51 30 68 69
Cotton : 82 69 80 79
Spring Wheat : 89 71 87 89
Barley : 92 74 91 90
Oats : 94 83 93 94
Sorghum : 45 36 61 52
Rice : 95 89 98 95
Peanuts : 80 61 84 78
Sugarbeets : 98 90 91 96
Sunflower : 23 6 27 NA
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With seeding lagging last year and the recent average, the percentage of crop emerged in the United States is also down. Crops with the quickest emergence rates this year include rice, with 86% of the crop now out of the ground and oats, with 72% emerged.
United States Crop Emergence
(per cent as of May 26)
---------------------------------------------
: Week Ending :
:-----------------------: 1997-
:May 26,:May 19,:May 26,: 2001
: 2002 : 2002 : 2001 : Avg.
---------------------------------------------
Corn : 53 34 78 NA
Soybeans : 15 6 42 NA
Barley : 55 34 67 70
Spring Wheat : 52 33 61 69
Oats : 72 56 80 82
Rice : 86 76 89 82
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Crops in the United States are in generally poorer condition than last year. The percentage of winter wheat in the good to excellent categories started the week at 33%, unchanged from last week, but well below last year's 39% rating.
The most dramatic difference in crop condition is recorded by corn, with the percentage of the crop rated good to excellent starting the week at 43%, compared to 70% at this time last year. The USDA estimates 53% of the corn crop is in poor to fair conditions, up from 29% last year.
United States Crop Condition
(per cent as of May 26)
---------------------------------------------
: VP : P : F : G : EX
---------------------------------------------
Corn : 4 13 40 38 5
Prev Yr : 1 4 25 58 12
Winter Wheat : 17 19 31 29 4
Prev Yr : 10 18 33 33 6
Oats : 1 4 32 54 9
Prev Yr : 1 4 29 56 10
Rice : 2 7 30 49 12
Prev Yr : 0 2 24 57 17
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