Corn and Soybean Harvest Continues to Trail 2015’s Pace

While nearly half of U.S. corn acres were harvested as of Oct. 16, this year’s harvest is lagging both last year’s pace and the 5-year average. Meanwhile, the soybean harvest is only slightly behind the 5-year average, but significantly behind this date last year.

Set back due to wet weather in several states, overall, 46% of corn acres had been cut as of last Sunday, which is 3% behind the 5-year average. A year ago on this date, 54% of corn had been harvested.

According to USDA, the condition of this year’s corn crop remains extremely good, even slightly better than a week earlier, as well as the previous year. Overall, 74% of the U.S. corn crop was rate as “good” (54%) and “excellent” (20%). This compares with 73% last week, when 53% was rated as “good” and 20% as “excellent.” A year ago, the condition of the corn crop was not quite as good, with 68% rated as “good” (48%) and “excellent” (20%).

The soybean harvest, is also behind last year’s pace, but about even with the 5-year average. As of Oct. 16, 62% of soybeans acres had been harvested, this 11% behind last year, when 73% of the crop was harvested. The 5-year average is 63%.

The condition of U.S. soybeans was unchanged from the previous week, with 74% “good” (53%) or “excellent” (21%). This easily surpasses the condition of soybeans from a year ago when 64% were rated as “good” (48%) or “excellent” (16%).