The May 10 National Agricultural Statistics Survey (NASS) Crop Progress Report notes that corn planting is 67 percent complete, up 21 percent from last week’s report. Of the corn planted, 20 percent has emerged. Forty-two percent of the nation’s soybean crop is planted, up 18 percent from last week. And 10 percent of soybeans have emerged, according to the report. We checked in with a few of our Agronomy and Sales team members again this week to see how crops are progressing in their regions. Here’s what they had to say.
Mike Smith, corn technical agronomist (southern territories)
Corn planting has been going on for two months in the South, and we are in various stages across the geography. States like Louisiana got started in March; however, with cool, wet conditions, corn stalled and is only now beginning to elongate. Corn in Arkansas, Mississippi and the rest of the Delta is planted and emerged, with most corn in the two- to six-leaf collar stage. Planting in southern Missouri is 80 percent complete and 30 to 40 percent complete in northern Missouri. Southern Illinois, Oklahoma and West Texas are just now really getting started.
Soybeans across the entire South have been delayed by recent moisture and cool temps, with the rest of the geography waiting for wheat to come off. Some do not plant soybeans until late May or June.
RSA Aaron Stockton, Region 9 (southeast Kansas, southwest Missouri, northern Texas)
In the core portion of Region 9 (southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri), most growers are wrapping up corn planting. A few soybeans are in the ground at this point, but most will wait until after wheat harvest is wrapped up. We’ve had cooler than average temps and have not been overly wet in most places. Despite delayed emergence on account of cool ground temps, we are getting good stand counts. There have been storms that rolled through in the last week causing some localized flooding that may lead to issues on some later-planted acres, but we shall see. All in all, it’s been a pretty good planting season. Now we just need some warm temps and sunshine.
RSA Jake Anderson, Region 12 (western Illinois)
Region 12 is 90–100 percent planted north of I-80 and about 70–80 percent planted from I-80 south down to Quincy. Currently, the whole region is out of the field on account of rain that came through over the weekend. We received 1.5–2.5 inches of much-needed rain across the region. I’ve talked to people who expect to be planting again later this week. April corn is up, and emergence looks good. Soybeans were struggling to come through a hard crust on lighter soils in the southern part of the region, but recent rains have helped that situation. I’d say we are off to a good start!
RSA Katie Lorenz, Region 21 (North Dakota)
Crop planting is rapidly progressing, but plant establishment continues to be slow due to the cool air and soil temperatures we have experienced, as well as generally dry soils. Things are warming up though as the average soil temperature in the center of the state (near Carrington) was in the low 60s as of May 10, which is 10 degrees higher than last week.
Small grain planting in the region should be complete. Estimates on planting progress are around 40–60 percent complete with corn and 30–40 percent complete with soybeans. This is well above the five-year average!
Parts of the region are still extremely dry and in desperate need of rain. With the dry conditions, planting is progressing as quickly as farmers can seed. It will be wait and see before we know if seeded crops have enough moisture to emerge in those dry parts. In the north and eastern side of North Dakota, farmers are going non-stop and should finish planting their corn by the end of the week. Plots are going in all over the region now, and we’re excited to get our hands dirty planting the best genetics the industry has to offer!
RSA Mike Eckels, Region 8 (northern Missouri)
The northeast corner of Missouri is 80 percent done with corn and 50 percent complete with beans. St. Louis to Columbia is wet! Only 20 percent of corn and 10 percent of corn is in. On the west side of Columbia, along I-70, is 85 percent done with corn and 40 percent done with soybeans. Northcentral Missouri is very spotty, with 50 percent corn and 20 percent of soybeans completed.
To learn more about planting progress in your region, contact your local Stine sales rep.