U.S. Soybean Planting Pulls 7 Points Ahead of Average, Says USDA in First Report of May

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.