Farmers finally got a chance to spend some extended time pulling their planters last week.
The U.S.D.A. reports dry warm weather gave farmers five days suitable for fieldwork and they made use of them. Corn planting advanced from 14% to 57% completed. Soybean planting went from 7% in the ground to 34%.
Corn and soybean planting are both still two weeks behind last year’s progress. Beans are a full two weeks behind the average planting schedule and corn is nine days behind.