The US spring wheat harvest is off to a bit of a slow start, while the winter wheat harvest made just modest progress this past week.
According to Monday’s USDA crop progress report, the spring wheat harvest was 6% complete as of Sunday, behind 8% last year and 10% for the five-year average. Meanwhile, the winter wheat harvest gained only 6 points on the week to move to 88% complete as of Sunday, still ahead of 85% last year and 86% on average.
In the No. 1 spring wheat state of North Dakota, 1% of spring wheat was harvested versus 4% on average, while Minnesota and Montana were 3% and 6% done, compared to 15% and 13% on average. The South Dakota spring wheat harvest surged 31 points from a week earlier to reach 39% complete as of Sunday, now 2 points ahead of normal.
An estimated 97% of the US spring wheat crop had reached the heading stage as of Sunday, up from 94% a week earlier but 2 points behind the average.
The national spring wheat crop was rated 74% good to excellent as of Sunday, unchanged from a week earlier and far above 41% last year.
In Michigan, the winter wheat harvest advanced 6 points from a week earlier to reach 96% complete as of Sunday, far ahead of 79% last year and 86% on average.
