The U.S. soybean crop is in better condition than at this time a year ago after above-average rainfall in the Midwest in May, a government report showed.
An estimated 66 percent of the nation’s soybeans, the third most-valuable U.S. crop, were in good or excellent condition as of Sunday, compared with 60 percent a year ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its first rating of the season.
An estimated 69 percent of the corn crop was in good or excellent condition, compared with 68 percent a week ago, the government said. Corn is the biggest U.S. crop.
“From the perspective of moisture, the crops should be in very, very good shape,” said meteorologist Michael Palmerino, with Meteorlogix LLC in Lexington, Mass.
Midwestern states, including Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska, have been getting average or above-average rainfall since the beginning of May, he said.
Cooler-than-normal temperatures in the Midwest since early May may have slowed the growth of corn and soybeans, Palmerino said. Still, with the warmer temperatures that are expected in the next week to 10 days, “they can catch up pretty quickly,” he said.
Ample supplies of corn and soybeans, the two biggest U.S. row crops, are good news for users such as Archer Daniels Midland Co., the largest soybean processor, and Tyson Foods Inc., the largest U.S. chicken producer and a buyer of corn- and soy-based feed.
In Iowa, the largest soybean grower, 76 percent of the crop was rated good or excellent as of Sunday, the department said. In Indiana, 52 percent of the crop got those ratings.
U.S. farmers had planted 84 percent of the soybean crop as of Sunday, up from 74 percent a week earlier and behind the five-year average of 87 percent, the department said.
In Iowa, the largest corn-growing state, 77 percent of the crop was rated good or excellent, the department said. In Illinois, the second-largest producing state, 72 percent received those ratings. In Nebraska, the third-biggest corn state, 82 percent of the crop was good or excellent.
The U.S. winter-wheat crop was rated 55 percent good-to-excellent as of Sunday, compared with 53 percent a week ago, the department said.
The spring-wheat crop was rated 82 percent good-to-excellent as of Sunday, up from 81 percent the previous week, the government said.
