USDA Corn Crop Report

Wet weather across the U.S. this past spring delayed corn planting, and as a result the maturity of the crop for weeks has lagged compared to previous years. But warm weather recently has helped the crop catch up, and the combination of good soil moisture at planting time and hot temperatures since then has this year’s crop looking solid.

After weeks of trailing normal pace, U.S. corn acres that had reached the doughing stage moved five percentage points ahead of the five-year average as of Aug. 16, according to a report released Monday by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. With 71 percent of this year’s corn acres having reached the doughing stage, the overall corn crop condition held strong, with 69 percent of U.S. acres rated as “good” or “excellent” — just one percentage point lower than the previous week, and just three percentage points down compared to this time last year.

This week’s crop report also provided the year’s second estimate of acres that have reached the dented stage. However, progress in that category still trailed the five-year average, falling seven percentage points behind normal. As of Aug. 16, just 21 percent of the U.S. corn crop had reached the dented stage, compared to an average of 28 percent at this time of year from 2010-2014.

In Colorado, numbers remained strong for the most part. According to the report, 76 percent of Colorado’s corn acres were in “good” or “excellent” condition (65 percent listed as “good,” 11 percent listed as “excellent” … exactly the same numbers as the previous week). The amount of acres doughing in Colorado was behind the national pace, but that’s typical for the Centennial State. However, after being on target last week, the state had fallen behind its own five-year average as of Aug. 16, with 38 percent of the state’s corn acres in the doughing stage, compared to the five-year average of 44 percent for this time of year. While Colorado’s crop was behind normal pace in terms of doughing, Colorado was actually slightly ahead of normal for corn acres that had reached the dented stage, with 6 percent of acres having reached dented stage as of Aug. 16, compared to the five-year average of 5 percent for this time of year.