Farmers have planted two-thirds of the soybean crop — more than 54 million acres — a breath-taking change from a year ago when barely more than a quarter of the crop was in the ground by late May due to a persistently rainy spring, said the weekly Crop Progress report on Tuesday. Growers sowed 10 million acres of the oilseed in the past week.
Planting of corn and soybeans, the most widely planted crops in the nation, was well ahead of usual this year, said the USDA report. Some 65 percent of soybeans and 88 percent of corn land has been planted, compared to the five-year average of 58 percent for soybeans and 82 percent for corn. In its first rating of the corn crop, the USDA said 70 percent was in good or excellent condition.
The USDA has projected a record-large corn harvest and the fourth-largest soybean crop on record this year.
Planting of other crops, such as cotton, rice, sorghum and oats was running at a fairly average pace; spring wheat, sunflowers and peanuts were behind average.