30 percent of Nebraska's corn crop is dented

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said today that 30 percent of the corn crop is dented, which, while up from 13 percent last week, is 9 points behind last year (39 percent) and 18 points behind the five-year average (48 percent).

It also noted that 76 percent percent of Nebraska's Corn crop is in the dough stage. That's behind last year's 82 percent and the five-year average of 88 percent.

Nebraska's crop, overall, however, remains in outstanding condition - with 78 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition. That's 3 points ahead of last year.

Nationally, 57 percent of the crop is in the dough stage, compared to 66 percent last year and the five-year average of 79 percent. Dented corn reached 18 percent, which is behind last year's 25 percent and the five year average of 43 percent.

As for crop condition, USDA said 70 percent of the nation's corn crop is in good to excellent condition, compared to 64 percent last year. It said 21 percent of the crop is fair and only 9 percent is poor to very poor. Last year, 24 percent was fair and 12 percent was poor to very poor.

For the full report, click here.

Also, FYI, the Pro Farmer crop tour estimated that the 2009-10 corn croup would come in at 12.8 billion bushels with an average yield of 160.1 bushels per acre. (USDA, in it's recent estimate, had the crop at 12.76 billion and yields at 159.5.)

This week's photo comes to the Nebraska Corn Board from the BlueHill FFA Chapter.