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Key Points
- Soybean planting progressing rapidly: Farmers have planted 30% of the U.S. soybean crop, a strong pace across key growing states.
- Corn planting slightly ahead of average: Corn planting is 40% complete nationwide, just ahead of the five-year average.
- Winter wheat condition peaks: The share of winter wheat rated good to excellent is at its highest level so far this season.
Today, USDA published the fifth Crop Progress report of the 2025 growing season. Here’s a look at the latest corn, soybean, wheat, and oat numbers.
Corn Crop Progress
As of May 4, 40% of the corn crop across the country’s top 18 corn-growing states had been planted. That’s ahead of the five-year average of 39%.
Eleven percent of the corn crop had emerged across 16 of the top corn-growing states as of May 4. That’s ahead of the five-year average by 2 percentage points. Only Colorado and Wisconsin had no corn emergence reported. The five-year average for both states is 1%.
Soybean Crop Progress
The USDA said that as of May 4, 30% of the soybean crop across all top 18 states had been planted. That’s notably ahead of the five-year average of 23%.
This is the first week this season that USDA reported soybean emergence for top-growing states. As of May 4, 7% of the soybean crop had emerged across 15 of the 18 top-growing states, compared to the five-year average of 5%.
Only Michigan, North Dakota, and South Dakota had no soybean emergence reported. That’s consistent with the five-year trend for the Dakotas, but Michigan’s five-year average for soybean emergence at this time is 1%.
Winter Wheat Progress and Condition
The USDA reported that 39% of the winter wheat crop across 12 of the top 18 states had headed as of May 4. The five-year average is 33%.
For the week ending May 4, the condition of the nation’s winter wheat crop was as follows:
- Good/excellent: 51%
- Fair: 31%
- Poor/very poor: 18%
Spring Wheat Progress
In the top six spring wheat-growing states, 44% of the crop had been planted as of May 4. That’s ahead of the five-year average of 34%.
Thirteen percent of the spring wheat crop had emerged across all six states by May 4. That’s ahead of the five-year average of 9%.
Oat Crop Progress
Across the nine top oat-growing states, 71% of the season’s planting is complete, according to the USDA. That’s ahead of the five-year average of 64%.
Across all nine states, 48% of the oat crop had emerged by May 4, five points ahead of the five-year average.
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