The condition of the US winter wheat crop continued to improve this past week as combines in the southernmost production areas started to roll.
According to Monday’s USDA crop progress report, 4% of the American winter wheat crop was in the bin as of Sunday, a single point behind last year but right on the five-year average. Going into the report, most traders and analysts were expecting the harvest to be shown at 4% complete.
Meanwhile, the nationwide winter wheat crop was rated 36% good to excellent as of Sunday, up 2 points from a week earlier and continuing a trend that has seen the crop show steady improvement in the wake of better rainfall on the drought-wracked southern Plains. With the latest gain, the crop is now 6 points above a year earlier.
The bulk of the harvest to date has occurred in Texas, where 29% of the crop was off as of Sunday, up from 18% a week earlier but behind 34% last year and 32% on average. The Oklahoma crop was 15% harvested, compared to 14% last year and 8% on average. No harvest activity was yet reported in the No. 1 production state of Kansas.
Across the country, 82% of the winter wheat crop had reached the heading stage as of Sunday, up 10 points on the week and a single point ahead of average. The Michigan and Ohio crops were 58% and 89% headed, respectively, versus 45% and 83% on average.
The Kansas crop was rated 12% good to excellent as of Sunday, up 2 points from a week earlier, while the Oklahoma crop jumped 7 points to 37% good to excellent. With the latest gain, the condition of the Oklahoma crop has now improved 27 points in just two weeks. At 53% good to excellent, the condition of the Michigan crop was down 4 points on the week, while the Ohio crop was down 8 points to 64%.
