Half of the U.S. winter wheat crop was in good or excellent condition at the start of the week, a vast improvement from the drought-scarred 2023 crop, said the USDA’s Crop Progress report on Monday. The USDA will make its first forecast of the harvest on Friday. Winter wheat usually accounts for three-quarters of all U.S. wheat production.
While drought is less of a threat this year for most of the states that grow winter wheat, 76 percent of the crop in Kansas, the No. 1 state for winter wheat, was under moderate or severe drought conditions. Only 32 percent of its crop was in good or excellent condition, said the USDA. Usually, Kansas grows a quarter of the U.S. winter wheat crop. Winter wheat is harvested from late May through the summer.
Analysts in a Bloomberg survey said they expected a crop of 1.32 billion bushels, compared to last year’s harvest of 1.25 billion bushels. The analysts also said they expect a corn crop of 14.87 billion bushels and a soybean crop of 4.45 billion bushels this year. Last year’s corn crop was a record 15.342 billion bushels. If the analysts are correct in their projection, the soybean crop would be the second-largest ever.