12% of Nebraska corn still in the field

Nebraska farmers have harvested 88 percent of the state's crop, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today. That is good news, for sure, although it does raise concerns about winter weather blowing its way into the state this week.

As Don Hutchens, executive director of the Nebraska Corn Board noted in a Twitter post today:

OK it's worse than I thought. We have 12% of NE Corn in the field yet or $630 m. value, with a storm rolling in. Pray for standability.

Looking at USDA's report doesn't offer much by comparison's sake, either. While harvest advanced 10 points from last week, by last year at this point USDA had already stopped tracking Nebraska's crop progress because the crop was already in the bin.

The same is true on a national level. This week nationwide, USDA said 88 percent of the crop was harvested - up from 79 percent last week. A year ago, though, harvest was already done. Ditto for the five-year average.