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U.S. winter wheat harvest begins

U.S. winter wheat harvest begins

About 2 percent of the crop is off, the USDA reports

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Combines are starting to roll in American winter wheat fields.

About 2 percent of the crop has been harvested, the USDA said in its June 6 Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin.

U.S. farmers planted around 30.6 million winter wheat acres in 2020. This means approximately 612,000 acres have been harvested.

On a state level, Texas farmers lead the nation.

Growers in the state have harvested about 50 percent of their winter wheat, the USDA’s report says.

Texas farmers planted about 4.8 million acres of winter wheat in 2020. This translates to about 2.4 million acres being harvested as of the June 6 report.

The USDA is reporting four additional states with winter wheat harvest progress.

Farmers in Arkansas, California, North Carolina and Oklahoma have harvested 26, 14, 15 and 16 percent of their winter wheat acres, respectively.

Soybeans across the U.S. continue to emerge.

As of the USDA’s June 6 report, about 76 percent of the crop has emerged, up from 62 percent last week.

The USDA’s Prospective Plantings report from March estimated farmers would plant 87.6 million acres of soybeans. Using that figure, that means soybeans have emerged on about 66.6 million acres across the U.S. as of June 6.

Soybeans in Minnesota are 93 percent emerged, which is the most among the 18 recorded states.

The lowest emergence percentage belongs to Kentucky with 57 percent.

U.S. corn has almost completely emerged.

About 90 percent of the corn crop is up, the USDA reported in its weekly crop bulletin. This represents an 8 percent increase from last week’s report.

March’s planting intentions report pegged seeded corn acres around 91.1 million.

Using that figure, corn has emerged on about 82 million U.S. acres.

Only one state, North Carolina, is reporting total corn emergence.

Colorado and Pennsylvania each are reporting 68 percent corn emergence. This is the lowest among the 18 documented states.


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