USDA's Crop Progress Report Shows Slow Start to Soybean Planting in the South
Crop Progress 042021
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.
