Nebraska corn 87% planted, 36% emerged

Although slowed by rain over the last week, Nebraska farmers had 87 percent of the corn crop planted as of May 16, USDA said today. That compares to 78 percent last week and 86 percent for the five-year average.

A year ago, corn planting was 91 percent completed by this date, so recent weather patterns certainly slowed things down a bit since farmers had been running ahead of last year's pace until this week.

Nationally, 87 percent of the crop is planted - up only 6 points from last week's 81 percent planted. Still, national progress is well ahead of last year's 61 percent planted at this time and the five-year average of 78 percent planted.

Reports from Iowa and some other states, however, indicate that some acres may need to be replanted due to a significant amount of rain last week. Plus there was a cold snap that may have frosted off a few acres. Time will tell.

As for emergence, USDA said 36 percent of Nebraska's corn crop had emerged, up from 16 percent last week and nearly even with the five-year average of 37 percent. A year go, 42 percent of the crop had emerged.

Nationally, 55 percent of the crop is out of the ground, up from 39 percent last week and only 28 percent last year. The five-year average is 39 percent emerged by this date.

Early crop conditions provided by USDA today show that 76 percent of Nebraska's corn crop is in good to excellent condition, with 20 percent being fair and 4 percent poor. Nationally, 67 percent of the crop is good to excellent, 27 percent is fair and 6 percent is poor to very poor.

If you were wondering about soybeans, USDA said 44 percent of Nebraska soy acres are planted, compared to 57 percent last year and the five-year average of 38 percent. Nationally, 38 percent of soybean acres are planted -- up from last year's 23 percent and the average of 35 percent.