9 percent of corn crop is mature

Nebraska crop conditions have held fairly steady, with 77 percent of the crop coming in this week in good to excellent condition, according to USDA. A year ago the crop was listed as 80 percent good to excellent, which was quite extraordinary. That leaves 6 percent of this year's crop in poor condition and 17 percent as fair.

Nationally, 61 percent of the crop is in good to excellent condition, which is two points behind last year. We've seen some drop here following a couple weeks of dry weather and then excessive moisture in parts of the Corn Belt. Overall, though, we're looking at a good crop.

In Nebraska, 97 percent of the corn crop has reached the dough stage, only 2 points behind the average. Corn in the dent stage reached 85 percent, which is a bit behind the 91 percent average - about five days behind.

Only 9 percent of the corn was mature. The average is 30 percent, and last year was 41 percent, so we've a ways to go here. Nationally, 19 percent of the crop is mature, compared to 44 percent on average

For more details on Nebraska's crop, check out the Nebraska Corn Board's Crop Progress Update. For the national numbers, click here.

The photo was provided to the Nebraska Corn Board by the Holdrege FFA Chapter.