This article was originally published at 3:03 p.m. CDT on Monday, Oct. 7. It was last updated with additional information at 3:45 p.m. CDT on Monday, Oct. 7.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- Nearly half of U.S. soybeans were harvested by the end of last week, well ahead of both last year and the five-year average, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

The nation's corn harvest also continued to run ahead of the average pace last week thanks to mostly dry conditions across the central U.S.

CORN

-- Crop development: Corn mature was pegged at 87%, equal to last year and 6 points ahead of the five-year average of 81%.

-- Harvest progress: Corn harvest moved ahead 9 percentage points to reach 30% complete as of Sunday. That was 1 point behind last year's 31% but 3 points ahead of the five-year average of 27%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 64% of corn still in fields was in good-to-excellent condition, unchanged from the previous week but above last year's 53%. Thirteen percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor, up 1 point from the previous week but below 18% last year.

SOYBEANS

-- Crop development: Soybeans dropping leaves were pegged at 90%, 1 point behind last year's 91% but 5 points ahead of the five-year average of 85%.

-- Harvest progress: The soybean harvest sped up even more last week, jumping ahead 21 percentage points to reach 47% completion as of Sunday. That was 10 points ahead of last year's 37% and 13 points ahead of the five-year average of 34%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 63% of soybeans still in fields were in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 point from 64% the previous week but still above last year's rating of 51% good to excellent.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Planting progress: Winter wheat planting moved ahead another 12 points last week to reach 51% complete nationwide as of Sunday, 1 point behind both last year and the five-year average of 52%.

-- Crop development: An estimated 25% of winter wheat had emerged as of Sunday, equal to both last year and the five-year average.

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THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

Continued dry, warm weather over most the U.S. should benefit the corn and soybean harvests this coming week but could create problems for winter wheat planting and emergence, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick. Meanwhile, the Southeast U.S. is bracing for a likely hit from another strong hurricane later this week.

"There will be a lot of dry conditions across the vast majority of the U.S. again this week," Baranick said. "That should make for some good conditions to continue harvest. But it's not great weather for those that plant winter crops. Soil moisture has declined significantly in the southwestern Plains for hard red winter wheat, and the forecast for the next couple of weeks does not look favorable for that.

"A couple of fronts will go through the country, though. One will move through late this week, and then another will go through over the weekend. The first won't bring much precipitation at all but will take the top off the high temperatures the country is experiencing, especially in the Plains where some 90s are going to show up for several days and may make it all the way north into South Dakota by Thursday. The front this weekend will bring a better shot of cooler air to those along and east of the Mississippi River, and it may bring some rain showers into the Great Lakes and Northeast.

"The bigger story is what is going on with Hurricane Milton, now a Category 5 storm as of Monday afternoon. Milton should still be a major hurricane as it crosses over the Florida Peninsula Wednesday night and into Thursday. The cone of uncertainty is fairly large across Florida, and a more northerly track could get some heavy rain into northern Florida, southern Georgia, and coastal South Carolina that continue to recover from Hurricane Helene's damage two weeks ago."

For more on the Hurricane Milton forecast, see "Ag Weather Forum: Category 5 Major Hurricane Milton Tracking Toward Florida" here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

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Editor's Note: How is your harvest going? Send us your comments, and we'll add them to the Crop Progress report story. You can email comments to Anthony.greder@dtn.com or direct message him on social platform X @AGrederDTN. Please include the location of where you farm.

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To view weekly crop progress reports issued by National Ag Statistics Service offices in individual states, visit http://www.nass.usda.gov/…. Look for the U.S. map in the "Find Data and Reports by" section and choose the state you wish to view in the drop-down menu. Then look for that state's "Crop Progress & Condition" report.

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn Mature	87	75	87	81
Corn Harvested	30	21	31	27
Soybeans Dropping Leaves	90	81	91	85
Soybeans Harvested	47	26	37	34
Winter Wheat Planted	51	39	52	52
Winter Wheat Emerged	25	14	25	25
Cotton Bolls Opening	82	72	80	80
Cotton Harvested	26	20	23	22
Sorghum Mature	80	69	78	76
Sorghum Harvested	43	35	41	40
Rice Harvested	86	78	80	77

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National Crop Condition Summary
(VP=Very Poor; P=Poor; F=Fair; G=Good; E=Excellent)
	This Week						Last Week						Last Year
	VP	P	F	G	E		VP	P	F	G	E		VP	P	F	G	E
Corn	5	8	23	49	15		4	8	24	49	15		6	12	29	44	9
Soybeans	3	8	26	51	12		3	8	25	52	12		6	12	31	43	8
Sorghum	9	15	31	37	8		8	15	32	37	8		11	17	30	33	9
Cotton	14	21	36	26	3		17	20	32	27	4		21	20	27	27	5

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