(Southeast Farm Press) – Farmers continued to make up for early spring planting delays last week, bringing corn planting progress within four points of the five-year average according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released May 28.
As of May 26, 86 percent of projected corn acres had been planted, while only 28 percent were planted two weeks prior.
While progress lagged behind the five-year average by nine points last week, it now lags only four points behind the 90 percent five-year average for this point in the season.
“Farmers again demonstrated that, by working tirelessly and using new technology that allows us to cover more ground in less time, we can accomplish an incredible amount given the smallest planting window,” said National Corn Growers Association President Pam Johnson, a grower in Iowa.
“Now, we have planted more than half the corn acres in the country in only two weeks. America’s farmers are working hard to grow the food, feed, fuel and fiber that our country, and our world, need.”
Farmers made significant progress, with progress increasing by more than 34 points in Colorado. Indiana and Wisconsin also made progress by more than 20 points. Planting progress moved forward by 11 to 18 points in each of the other top corn producing states with the exception of North Carolina where, after planting the final four percentage points worth of acres, farmers completed corn planting.
Corn emergence made significant gains over the past week also, with overall emergence shown on 54 percent of the total corn acres in the top 18 corn-producing states by May 26. The lags behind the five-year average of 67 percent emerged at this point, but it closes the gap significantly as only 19 percent of total U.S. corn acres had emerged the prior week.
