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USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report

5/19/2025 - 15:54:00

This article was originally published at 3:04 p.m. CDT on Monday, May 19. It was last updated with additional information at 3:54 p.m. CDT on Monday, May 19.

OMAHA (DTN) -- U.S. corn planting progress surged ahead last week, maintaining its lead over the five-year average as farmers continued to make significant fieldwork progress, according to USDA NASS' weekly Crop Progress report released on Monday.

Soybean planting continued ahead of last year's pace and the five-year average.

Winter wheat conditions decreased slightly last week by 2 points, NASS reported.

Widespread rainfall moving through the Corn Belt this week should benefit early crop development despite severe weather risks and cooler temperatures in some areas, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

CORN

-- Planting progress: 78% of corn was planted nationwide as of Sunday, 11 points ahead of 67% last year and 5 points ahead of the five-year average of 73%. "Top producing corn state Iowa remains ahead of average at 91% complete, while Illinois sits 3 points behind their five-year average pace," noted DTN Lead Analyst Rhett Montgomery.

-- Crop development: 50% of corn was emerged as of Sunday. That's 12 points ahead of last year's 38% and 10 points ahead of the five-year average of 40%.

SOYBEANS

-- Planting progress: Soybean planting stayed ahead of the average pace last week with 66% of the crop planted nationwide as of Sunday. That was 16 percentage points ahead of last year's pace of 50% and 13 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 53%. "Of the 18 states listed in the combined report, only Kentucky and Mississippi remain behind their five-year average planting pace for mid-May," Montgomery said.

-- Crop development: 34% of soybeans had emerged as of Sunday, 9 points ahead of last year and 11 points ahead of the five-year average of 23%.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Crop condition: An estimated 52% of winter wheat was rated good to excellent as of May 18, down 2 points from 54% the previous week and 3 points ahead at the same time last year of 49%, according to NASS.

-- Crop development: 64% of winter wheat was headed nationwide as of Sunday. That's 3 percentage points behind last year's 67% but 6 points ahead of the five-year average of 58%. Top winter-wheat-producer Kansas' crop was 84% headed, 4 points behind last year at this time and 13 points ahead of the five-year average.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Planting progress: 82% of the crop was planted nationwide as of May 18, 6 points ahead of last year's 76% and 17 points ahead of 65% for the five-year average. Minnesota was the furthest ahead of the average, at 93% planted as of Sunday, 29 points ahead of its average pace of 64%. That was followed by North Dakota at 78% planted, 27 points ahead of its five-year average of 51% for this time of year.

-- Crop development: 45% of spring wheat was emerged as of Sunday, 5 points ahead of last year and 11 points ahead of the five-year average.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

Despite recent severe weather in the Ohio Valley, widespread rainfall moving through the Corn Belt this week should help with germination and early crop growth, though cooler temperatures may bring areas of patchy frost, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"Well, if the severe weather hasn't caused any damage, the rain should be helping early crop development across a vast area of the country," Baranick said. "Last Friday, May 16, a major severe weather event brought widespread damage across the Ohio Valley. Multiple long-track tornadoes, massive hail over three inches, and pockets of hurricane-force wind gusts tore through the landscape. Much of the crop is too young to face much damage, but equipment and infrastructure damage could have been intense. We've got more rounds of severe weather to go through this week as well. Another system moved into the Plains Sunday night and brought widespread heavy rainfall. That system will produce another round of severe weather across the southeastern Plains into the Ozarks with much of the same risks as last Friday. Then the storm brings those chances eastward into the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys on Tuesday, May 20, which puts those that saw damage last week at risk of another round this week.

"Despite the severe weather, the rainfall that has and will come with the systems is encouraging for a lot of areas. Nebraska already saw most of the state blanketed with more than an inch of rain from Sunday night. The storm will bring similar amounts throughout the majority of the Corn Belt through Wednesday in the west and Thursday in the east. For some drier areas out there, including Iowa and northern Illinois, the rainfall will help with germination and early crop growth. I would normally say that the heavy rain would limit the remaining planting out there, but so far this spring that hasn't been the case and we're still moving strong. So, this rain should be an overall benefit. Some areas that wouldn't like to see rain though are soft red winter wheat areas in the Midwest and Mid-South, which could have an effect there for the ripening crop in some areas.

"Colder temperatures will be in place all week across the north and will spread to the south behind the early-week system. Though not a large risk of frost, some patchy areas may develop. This is unlikely to have much of an effect even if it happens, as much of the newly planted crop is just emerging. Though for some soybeans, I suppose there may be a small risk in some northern states that planted early."

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.

Editor's Note: How are your crops looking? Are they better, worse or right on track with USDA NASS' observations this week? Send us your comments, and we'll include them in next week's Crop Progress report story. You can email comments to talk@dtn.com. Please include the location of where you farm.

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Planted	78	62	67	73
Corn Emerged	50	28	38	40
Soybeans Planted	66	48	50	53
Soybeans Emerged	34	17	25	23
Winter Wheat Headed	64	53	67	58
Spring Wheat Planted	82	66	76	65
Spring Wheat Emerged	45	27	40	34
Cotton Planted	40	28	42	43
Sorghum Planted	33	26	31	31
Oats Planted	91	82	86	83
Oats Emerged	71	59	68	65
Barley Planted	75	63	76	72
Barley Emerged	45	29	45	42
Rice Planted	87	80	91	87
Rice Emerged	73	64	75	66
Peanuts Planted	51	34	52	50
Sugarbeets Planted	100	91	97	81
Sunflowers Planted	13	NA	9	6

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
Winter Wheat	6	12	30	44	8	6	12	28	46	8	5	13	33	42	7
Rice	1	2	18	51	28	1	1	21	49	28	NA	1	17	69	13
Oats	7	8	35	43	7	7	9	37	41	6	4	6	26	57	7

EllaMae Reiff can be reached at ellamae.reiff@dtn.com

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