The report, which is the first of the season to include silking and bl

Corn photos from MI Corn College 2014.

© Aimee Cope

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its weekly crop progress report on Monday. The report, which is the first of the season to include silking and blooming data, shows just how far behind the corn and soybean crops continue to be. 

Just 8% of the nation’s corn crop is silking compared to 32% at this same time last year. Historically, corn in Illinois is at 41% silking. This year, it’s just at 4% silking. In 2018, 71% of the Illinois corn crop was silking this week. Similarly, last year at this time 45% of Indiana corn and 31% of Iowa corn were silking. Today’s report shows just 1% of the corn crop in Indiana and Iowa is currently at silking. Some of the top-producing states have no corn at silking yet, including Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Fifty-seven percent of the U.S. corn crop overall is rated good-to-excellent.

The soybean crop is also extremely behind its normal pace. In a typical year, 32% of the nation’s soybeans are blooming at this point in the season. This year, just 10% of the crop is at blooming—a far cry from last year’s 44% at this time. Last year, in Illinois 61% of the crop was blooming by this date. This year, just 1% of the crop is blooming. Similarly, in Indiana, just 1% of the soybeans is blooming, compared to the historical average of 32%. There are no soybeans blooming in Minnesota or Wisconsin. Soybean conditions slid by one percentage point last week, and 53% now rates as good-to-excellent.

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