How Will First Rating of the 2024 U.S. Crops Compare to Average?

When the USDA releases the first crop condition ratings for the U.S. corn and soybean crops, it is always informative to compare the first rating with previous years. The first ratings are released after the crop emergence surpasses 50% and the first corn rating is usually released about a week ahead of the first soybean rating.

Below are the first U.S. corn and soybean ratings for the last five years. The market pays attention to the percentage of the crop rated good/excellent. For corn, the percentage of the crop rated good/excellent during the first rating averaged 71.4%, and for soybeans, it averaged 64.6%. For both crops, the first rating in 2019 was quite low due to widespread saturated conditions, so the 2019 rating lowered the overall average.

When we get the first corn rating for 2024, the percentage of the corn crop rated good/excellent could be average or better than average. The corn has been planted a little later than average, but there has not been much flooding or saturated conditions, so the crops visual appearance should be generally good. When the first soybean rating is released, it too will likely be average or better than average.

First U.S. Corn Condition Rating

First U.S. Soybean Condition Rating

Tags: corn, soybeans, crop, U.S., rating