USDA Weekly Crop Progress - NASS: 96% of Intended Corn Planted; 85% of Intended Soybeans Planted

OMAHA (DTN) -- Ninety-six percent of the corn that farmers intend to plant this year -- on those acres that were still farmable following relentless rains and flooding this spring -- was planted as of Sunday, June 23, according to the latest USDA NASS Crop Progress report released Monday.

Progress was up just 4 percentage points from 92% the previous week. That put planting progress 4 percentage points behind both last year's pace and the five-year average of 100%. But at this stage in the growing season, advancement in corn planting progress is most likely due to farmers abandoning plans to plant remaining acres they had originally intended to plant to corn. For those farmers, planting would then be considered complete for the season, according to sources at NASS.

Planting progress estimates represent the portion of the crop that was planted relative to farmers' planting intentions as of last week, not as of the March Prospective Plantings report or what they had originally intended to plant at the start of the season, Lance Honig, chief of the Crops Branch at NASS, said in an interview with USDA Radio Newsline last week.

An estimated 89% of corn was emerged as of Sunday, 10 percentage points behind the five-year average of 99%.

NASS estimated that 56% of corn that was emerged was in good-to-excellent condition, down 3 percentage points from 59% the previous week and below 77% at the same time last year.

Meanwhile, an estimated 85% of intended soybean acres were planted, up 8 percentage points from 77% the previous week. Progress was 12 percentage points behind the five-year average of 97%, continuing to improve slightly from last week's report when soybean planting was 16 percentage points behind average.

Nationwide, 71% of soybeans were emerged, 20 percentage points behind the average of 91%. In last week's report, soybean emergence was 29 percentage points behind average.

NASS also included its first soybean condition rating of the season in Monday's report.

"The first good-to-excellent rating for soybeans in 2019 was 54%, on the lower end of guesses and down from 73% a year ago," noted DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. "Good-to-excellent ratings were 63% for Iowa and 42% for Illinois."

Winter wheat was 94% headed as of Sunday, behind last year's 98% and 5 percentage points behind the five-year average of 99%. Winter wheat harvest reached 15% complete as of Sunday, well behind 39% last year and also behind the average of 34%.

"Arkansas winter wheat was 80% harvested, followed by North Carolina at 61% and Texas at 58%," Hultman said. "Kansas was 5% harvested."

Sixty-one percent of the winter wheat remaining in fields was rated in good-to-excellent condition, down from 64% the previous week.

Seven percent of the spring wheat crop was headed, up just 5 percentage points from the previous week, putting progress well behind last year's 30% and the five-year average of 29%.

Spring wheat condition for the portion of the crop that was emerged was rated 75% good to excellent, down 2 percentage points from 77% the previous week.

Sorghum was 84% planted, compared to 94% last year and a five-year average of 91%. Seventeen percent of sorghum was headed, slightly behind the five-year average of 20%. Oats emerged were at 97%, compared to 100% last year and an average of 100%. Forty-three percent of oats were headed, behind the average of 68%.

Cotton planting was 96% complete, compared to 99% last year and the average of 98%. Cotton squaring, at 30%, was slightly ahead of the average pace of 28%. Cotton setting bolls was 3%, slightly behind the average of 5%. Rice was 97% emerged, compared to 100% last year and an average of 100%. Five percent of rice was headed, slightly behind the average of 8%.

Summer Passage of USMCA Looking Doubtful

Key lawmakers in Washington, D.C., cast significant doubt on the possibility of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement getting passed through Congress yet this summer. This comes in spite of the fact that political pressure is ramping up. Congress has a long summer recess rapidly approaching. Politico says it’s looking like Democrats are sticking to their ideas that the agreement needs more changes. That may push a vote on the House floor at least into the fall. Waiting that long will only increase the risk of the much-needed bill getting swallowed up in the politics of the 2020 presidential campaign. Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon is Chair of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, who talked about the prospects of a vote on USMCA in the next few weeks. At an event last week in Washington, his response was a simple one, saying, “It’s not going to happen. I think it’s very unlikely that something is going to happen before Congress heads out of town on the August recess.”

27 Governors Send Letter Asking Congress to Ratify USMCA

Just over half the nation’s governors co-signed a letter to Congress asking for rapid ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. In a letter dated Thursday, June 20, it says, “Nearly 25 years after passing the North American Free Trade Agreement, it’s time to update our trade policies with two of our most critical trading partners.” The governors, all Republicans, say the USMCA is a “comprehensive, twenty-first-century trade agreement” which will protect trade secrets and intellectual property, prevents corruption, prevents importation of goods produced by forced labor, and expands the agricultural market by lowering trade barriers for farmers and ranchers. The Jamestown, North Dakota, Sun says the letter also reads, “As chief executives of our states, we urge Congress to pass the USMCA quickly so American workers can begin reaping the benefits of improved trade with our North American neighbors,” The letter also says. “Passing the agreement quickly will give our small and large businesses the stability and predictability they need to expand, invest, and create more jobs.” North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, one of the co-signers, says, “American producers are among the world’s best and can compete with anyone on a level playing field. The USMCA represents a tremendous opportunity to advance free and fair trade.”

U.S. Trade Rep Looking for Deal with Japan Within Weeks

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer talked trade during an appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee last week. He told committee members that he’s hopeful the U.S. and Japan are close to a deal on agricultural tariff cuts. He says the key to reaching a bilateral trade agreement with Japan is resolving those differences over Ag tariffs. According to various media reports, Lighthizer says, “I’m hopeful that we’ll come to an agreement in the next several weeks. It’s a high priority.” He also says, “The principal thing we’re trying to do is to get agriculture access equal to what the Japanese have given to the TPP countries.” The trade industry website Meating Place Dot Com points out that one of President Trump’s first acts in the Oval Office was to withdraw the U.S. from negotiations over the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Hillary Clinton had also been critical of the pact during the most recent presidential campaign. The U.S. and Japan are scheduled to have more trade discussions this week during the Group of 20 summit meeting in Osaka, Japan. The negotiations have been ongoing since April.

Honeybee Losses Jumped Sharply Higher Last Winter

Bee colony death numbers are continuing to climb. The Bee Informed Partnership released its latest survey last week, saying U.S. beekeepers lost 40 percent of their colonies last winter. That’s the largest number of overwintering hive losses since the survey began more than a decade ago. The total annual loss in 2018 was estimated to be slightly above average. An NPR Dot Org article says the survey included responses from 4,700 beekeepers who managed approximately 320,000 hives. The USDA says pollinators like honeybees are directly responsible for one of every three bites of food that people consume. Most of the pollinators are domesticated honeybees and they’re essential for many different types of flowering crops. Wild insects can’t always be counted on to pollinate hundreds of acres of crops, so fruit and nut growers will use commercial honeybee colonies instead. Studies have shown that bee decline has multiple causes. Decreasing crop diversity, poor beekeeping habits, as well as a loss of habitat are just some of the reasons given for bee numbers dropping. Pesticides have been shown to weaken bee immune systems. Varroa mites are the number one concern of beekeepers in the wintertime because the tools beekeepers use to control the mites aren’t as effective as they have been in the past.

Administration Approves Disaster Aid for Mississippi, Kansas

Late last week, President Trump declared that a major disaster exists in Mississippi. He’s ordered federal assistance to help supplement state and local recovery efforts after severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding did a large amount of damage on April 13-14. Federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments, as well as private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work, as well as repairing or replacing facilities that suffered damage. The disaster declaration covers eight different counties in Mississippi. Trump also approved a disaster declaration in Kansas and ordered supplemental recovery assistance for state and local government agencies there as well. Kansas was hit by several storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flooding, landslides, and mudslides beginning on April 29 and continuing afterward. The declaration covers 53 counties within Kansas. Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

Legislation Introduced to Extend Biofuel, Bioenergy Tax Credits

Democratic Representative Mike Thompson of California introduced the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019. The bill is designed to extend several biofuel and bioenergy-related tax credits. “For far too long, Congress has not extended important tax provisions on a forward-looking basis, resulting in confusion and uncertainty for taxpayers,” Thompson says. “We just took the first step toward untangling this mess.” He says the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019 extends a number of provisions that expired at the end of 2017 and 2018, as well as those that will expire at the end of this year. The bill would extend the $1-per-gallon tax credit for biodiesel and biodiesel mixtures, as well as the small Agri-biodiesel producer credit of 10 cents per gallon through 2020. The bill treats renewable diesel the same as biodiesel, except there’s no small producer tax credit. The second-generation biofuel producer credit would also be extended through 2020.