The spring planting season in Iowa has been a struggle. The epic cold and snow of April delayed the onset and widespread rains this week will further delay activity. There was a window of about seven days last week into early this week that allowed for some progress to me made. The featured chart looks at USDA NASS reported weekly crop progress reports since 1979 for Iowa. The estimates are updated by the USDA weekly and the chart shows the yearly progress by day of the year with the top panel and the maximum weekly change each year with the bottom panel. The bottom panel casts some doubt on the perception that farmers are getting the corn crop in faster thanks to bigger and faster equipment. While certainly the size and speed of corn planters has increased since 1979, the number of acres planted per planter has dramatically increased as well.

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Tags:   corn   nass