Farmers harvested 7.4 million acres of winter wheat in the past week, 19 percent of the total crop. The harvest is now 38 percent complete, according to the weekly Crop Progress report. Even so, the rain-delayed harvest is 8 points behind average for the end of June. In Kansas, the No. 1 winter wheat state, with a week of clear weather, growers sent combines over 40 percent of their 3.4 million acres of winter wheat. The Kansas harvest stood at 48 percent complete as of Sunday, compared to the five-year average of 60 percent. The winter wheat crop, used for bread and pastries, is forecast for 1.5 billion bushels this year, up 9 percent from last year’s drought-hit crop.
While soybean planting, at 94 percent complete, is catching up to the five-year average, it is worrisomely slow in Missouri – only 62 percent complete. More than 2.1 million acres remained to be planted as of Sunday. “Missouri appears to be the epicenter of late plantings,” says economist Gary Schnitkey of U-Illinois at farmdoc daily. He says Missouri averages 57,000 acres annually of “prevented planted” land. The Show Me state usually produces 6 percent of the U.S. soybean crop.