Winter Wheat Condition Surprises to the Upside; Good Spring Wheat Planting Progress

The condition of the US winter wheat crop showed good improvement this past week, while national spring wheat planting progress jumped. 

The USDA crop progress report on Monday pegged the national winter wheat crop at 49% good to excellent as of Sunday, up 4 points from a week earlier and beating the average pre-report trade guess of 47%. With this past week’s gain, the condition of the 2025 crop now matches last year and is single point above the initial USDA rating in early April. 

Further improvement could be in store as well, as an estimated 75% of the US Hard Red Winter wheat areas received good rains from Friday through Sunday, with more in the forecast for this week. 

In the top production state of Kansas, the condition of the crop improved 6 points on the week to 47% good to excellent as of Sunday, while the Oklahoma crop gained 5 points to 44% good to excellent. On the other hand, the condition of the Soft Red crop in Michigan fell 7 points on the week to 58% good to excellent, and Ohio was steady at 61%. 

An estimated 27% of the winter wheat crop had reached the heading stage of development as of Sunday, up from 15% a week earlier. That is 5 points ahead of the five-year average but a single point behind last year.