Despite the weather delays during planting, the U.S. corn crop is silking on schedule or ahead of the five-year average in six states – Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin – and is only one or two percent behind the average in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

USDA’s crop progress report for August 1 found the crop condition unchanged from the previous week at 62 percent good to excellent, 24 percent fair, and 14 percent poor to very poor.

Poor and very poor conditions were concentrated in Texas, Kansas, and North Carolina, where growers face a double threat from drought and extreme high temperatures. 

Meanwhile, sorghum crop progress is running 7 percent behind the national average for the top 11 producing states. Only the Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas crops are ahead of the five-year average. Crop condition was 24 percent good to excellent (down 3 percent from the previous week), 32 percent fair (a 2 percent decline), and 44 percent poor to very poor (up 5 percent).