Apr 19, 2022
2022 U.S. Planting Continues Slow - Corn 4% Planted, Soybeans 1%
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Weather - Rainfall over the weekend favored the Delta and far southern Midwest with snowfall in the northern Plains and western Midwest and temperatures remained well below normal across most of the central U.S. Temperatures will turn warmer this week in the southern areas but remain colder than normal in the northern areas. Bottom line - there was not much corn planted last week (2%) and planting will be limited this week.
Corn - The 2022 U.S. corn crop is 4% planted compared to 7% last year and 6% average. This represents an advance of 2% for the week.
It is the third week of April and the corn is 4% planted, should we be concerned about the corn being planted later than normal? The answer to that question depends on the location. Certainly, there is a concern in the far northern Plains where they just received record amounts of April snowfall. In some of those areas, it could be 2-3 weeks before the corn gets planted if they get warmer and dryer weather. As a reminder, in a few areas of the northern Corn Belt, the corn was virtually all planted last year at this time.
The conditions are not a bad across most of the Midwest although we just had snow over the weekend, so I am getting concerned about late corn planting. Temperatures are expected to warm up later this week and then cool down again for the last week of April.
Ideally, we would like to see approximately 50% of the U.S. corn planted by May 7-8-9-10, but that may not happen this year. We cannot say for sure yet because U.S. farmers can plant half of their corn with 7 good days of planting, but the weather is not promising.
We originally thought there would be more corn planted than what was indicated in the March Prospective Planting Report, but if the forecast verifies, the corn acreage may end up being less than anticipated and if it stays wet in the northern Plains, there may be more prevent plant than we anticipated. I am concerned that if it stays wet, farmers may get anxious and start to plant under less-than-ideal conditions resulting in slow emergence and less than ideal plant populations. Corn yield losses usually start to occur if corn planting in the Midwest is delayed past about May 15th.
Soybeans - The 2022 U.S. soybean crop is 1% planted compared to 3% last year and 2% average. Soybeans can be very forgiving of delayed planting. Earlier planting is better than later planting because you would like to have the soybeans reach their maximum leaf area as close to the Summer Solstice as possible to take advantage of the maximum sunlight. But and this is critical for soybeans, later planted soybeans can yield just as well as earlier planted soybeans if the weather during the second half of the summer is beneficial.
The way it looks now, there may be some corn and other crops in the northern Plains switched to additional soybeans, so we may end up with more soybeans planted than anticipated. I am not overly concerned about the soybean yields unless the soybean planting is delayed until late May or early June.