Corn Harvest Still Progressing Slowly, but Quality Looks Good
Corn harvest progress fell further behind the five-year average according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Report released on Monday. While only 31 percent of the crop was harvested as of October 19, the forecast of a high quality crop remains unchanged.
"While farmers are eager to get into their fields, wet conditions have made it difficult to do so in many areas," said NCGA President Chip Bowling, a farmer in Maryland. "Harvest may run later than normal this year, but it still looks like we will break corn production records when it does come to an end. While we work tirelessly in our combines, we must also work to grow markets and to ensure we have the robust infrastructure necessary to move our crop so that farming remains profitable for the hardworking men and women in rural America."
Progress fell an additional three points behind average over the previous week, with the gap now a full 22 points. Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota have seen the least harvest progress with all three states lagging 30 or more points behind the five-year average.
At the same time, crop maturity closed in on the average with 93 percent of corn acres now fully mature.
Crop quality reports held relatively stable for the second week with in a row with 74 percent of the crop still rated in the excellent or good category. This far surpasses the quality seen at this point last year when only 60 percent of corn acres were rated in this way.