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 1% complete as of Sunday, behind 2% last year and 3% for the five-year average. Meanwhile, the winter wheat harvest gained only 6 points on the week to move to 82% complete as of Sunday, still ahead of 77% last year and 80% on average.
No harvest progress was yet reported in the No. 1 spring wheat state of North Dakota, versus 1% on average, while Minnesota and Montana were both 2% done, compared to 1% last year and 4% and 3% on average. The South Dakota spring wheat harvest advanced 6 points from a week earlier to reach 8% complete as of Sunday, 10 points behind both last year and the average.
An estimated 94% of the US spring wheat crop had reached the heading stage as of Sunday, up from 89% a week earlier but 2 points behind last year and the average.
The national spring wheat crop was rated 74% good to excellent as of Sunday, down 3 points from a week earlier but far above 42% last year. Going into today’s report, most traders and analysts were only looking for a 1-point in the condition of the crop.
The condition of the Minnesota crop was up 1 point from a week earlier at 83% good to excellent, and South Dakota was up 7 points to 70%. However, the Montana crop lost 7 points to 69% good to excellent, and North Dakota was down 2 points at 81%.
In Michigan, the winter wheat harvest advanced 19 points from a week earlier to reach 90% complete as of Sunday, far ahead of 58% last year and 70% on average.
