Nebraska corn 94% planted, 55% emerged

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday that 94 percent of Nebraska's corn crop was planted and 55 percent of the corn had emerged. A year ago at this time Nebraska farmers had 95 percent of the crop in and 56 percent had emerged. The five year average is 95 percent planted and 61 percent emerged.

Nationally, USDA said 79 percent of the corn crop is planted, up from last week’s 63 percent but still behind the five-year average of 87 percent planted by this date. Some key states like Iowa (98 percent planted) and Illinois (90 percent planted) are nearly wrapped up. Minnesota caught up considerably, jumping to 81 percent planted (up from 47 percent). Ohio, meanwhile, is only 11 percent planted.

USDA said 45 percent of planted corn across the country had emerged, and while that's a nice jump from from last weeks 21 percent, it's still behind the five-year average of 59 percent.

The Nebraska Corn Board's Crop Progress Update noted that the National Agricultural Statistics Service's Nebraska Field Office reported significant rainfall in Nebraska and below average temperatures across the state for the week ending May 22. It also noted that crop and pasture conditions improved with the recent rains, although heavy rains caused localized flooding and soil erosion in isolated areas.

The top photo this week comes from the Holdrege FFA Chapter, while the bottom one comes from the SEM FFA Chapter. They are part of the Nebraska Corn Board's 2011 crop progress photo set on Flickr.

Be sure to check out more photos and details of the crop year at the Board's Crop Progress Update page.