According to the USDA’s Sept. 30 Crop Progress report, the same story prevails as has been seen all season: corn and soybean progress remains well behind the average numbers and has a lot of catching up to do before harvest.

According to the report, 11% of corn has been harvested in the U.S., compared to 25% this time last year and 7% harvested as of last week. This comes in 8% below the 5 year average for corn harvested by Sept. 29. The states with the most harvested corn tended to be more southern states that also harvested quickly last year (87% harvested in North Carolina, 74% harvested in Tennessee and 72% harvested in Texas).

As of Sept. 29, 88% of U.S. corn has entered the dented stage, compared to 100% dented this time last year and 79% dented last week. This remains 10% below the 5 year average of 98% of corn dented by Sept. 29.

Corn in the mature stage is further behind, with 43% of corn matured as of Sept. 29. This shows improvement from the 29% improved as of Sept. 22, but well behind the 84% mature as of Sept. 29, 2018 and the 5 year average of 73% mature.

Corn condition remains mostly unchanged from last week and from the previous year in most areas, including 46% of corn reported as “good” as of Sept. 29, unchanged from last week and compared to 47% the previous year. Corn reported as “excellent” also remains unchanged from last week at 11%, behind the 22% reported as “excellent” this time last year.

As of Sept. 29, 55% of soybean leaves had dropped, up from the 34% reported last week but below the 5 year average of 76% and the 81% reported this time last year.

A total of 7% of soybeans have been harvested as of this week, the first week that the data could be compounded accurately. This is well below the 5 year average of 20% and the 22% average reported this time last year.

Soybean condition also remains behind schedule in a few categories. Soybeans reported as “good” were at 46%, up from the 45% reported last week but well below the 49% reported ths time last year. Soybeans reported as “excellent” this week were even worse at 9%, unchanged from the previous week and below the 19% reported this time in 2018.