
Cotton acres planted across the U.S. are slightly behind last year’s planted acreage in late May/early June. 2021 cotton planting progress sits at 71% of intended cotton acres, whereas last year U.S. farmers had planted 76% of intended 2020 cotton acres by this time. Leading the way in planted cotton acres is California, which has completed planting, followed by Arizona at 99%, and Arkansas and Missouri at 98%. Figure 2 displays cotton planting progress of intended acres as of June 6.

Crop Conditions
As 2021 planting heads toward a close, all eyes turn to weather. Top of mind for farmers across the U.S. is how persisting drought conditions will impact crop conditions. For the week ending June 6, 75% of the 2021 corn planted was rated good or excellent, with 90% of planted corn acres with some variation of emergence. At this same time last year, only 87% of the 2020 corn acres had emerged. For soybeans, 72% of planted acres were rated good or excellent, with 76% showing some variation of crop emergence compared to 65% of emergence this same week in 2020. Of cotton planted acres, only 43% of the 2021 crop is indicated to be in good or excellent condition, with another 44% sitting at fair condition. However, the rate of cotton squaring is only at 9% of the 2021 crop. In 2020, 12% of cotton acreage was squaring at this point in the year.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published its monthly national temperature and precipitation maps on June 8. According to NOAA, in many parts of the country, May temperatures were some of the coldest on record, especially across the middle of the country, where planting has rapidly progressed. Crop emergence is heavily dependent on warming temperatures that initiate plant growth. This spike in temperatures has just started in areas where the temperature has been below average. Figure 3 is the May 2021 NOAA map that compares the temperature of the current month and year as percent relative to the same month’s mean temperatures starting in 1895.
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