According to a Reuters article, Monday’s corn and soybean futures saw their largest losses in a month as many of the nation’s farmers rapidly took to the fields in an attempt to take advantage of favorable weather conditions.
United States corn and soybean futures dropped 2% as dry conditions allowed farmers to get in the fields and make rapid harvest advancements ahead of expected widespread rains that could again put a halt on their efforts. The latest USDA Crop Progress report shows the corn harvest jumped ahead of last week’s report by 20 percentage points, increasing to 59%. This recent surge puts the harvest just 3 percentage points behind the five-year average despite the majority of farmers still trying to make up for a late start to the planting season.
The USDA report shows a number of states made 16% harvesting advancements this past week, while Minnesota produced the largest harvest spike. Last week’s report showed just 19% of Minnesota’s corn had been harvested, a number that has grown to 48% according to this week’s data.
The soybean harvest also caught up in the last week, jumping to 77% complete, on par with five-year averages thanks to a 14 percentage point growth in the past week.
The nation’s farmers took to the fields at a rapid rate in the past week, capitalizing on favorable conditions, driving corn and soybean futures down 2%, the largest drop in a month.