USDA’s weekly Crop Progress Report has started tallying soybean planting progress. In the first report of the year to include soybeans, USDA showed 3% of the soybean crop is planted, which is one point ahead of average.
In Ohio, conditions seem to be prime in some areas, which allowed farmers to get a jump-start on the 2021 planting season. USDA’s data shows farmers in the state already have 5% of the soybean crop planted, and the five-year average shows they typically haven’t planted any of the soybean crop this early in the year.
However, there are some trouble spots. Louisiana farmers have 10% of their crop planted, which is 13 percentage points behind the five-year average. Mississippi farmers have planted 15% of the crop, which trails the average by 10 points.
USDA also showed as of Sunday, 8% of the corn crop is in the ground, which is on track with the five-year average, but two points ahead of the same time in 2020. As freezing temperatures grasp much of the Corn Belt this week, the report shows 2% of the U.S. corn crop is emerged, which is one point ahead of the five-year average.
