This article was originally published at 3:04 p.m. CDT on Monday, July 20. It was last updated with additional information at 4:08 p.m. CDT on Monday, July 20.

**

OMAHA (DTN) -- Soybean condition ratings improved for a second straight week, while U.S. corn conditions slipped, according to USDA NASS's weekly Crop Progress report released Monday.

The heat wave is ending as a cold front pushes south, bringing cooler temperatures, scattered rainfall and the threat of severe weather, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

CORN

-- Crop development: Corn silking was pegged at 59%, 6 percentage points ahead of last year's 53% and 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 54%. Corn in the dough stage was estimated at 13%, steady with last year and 2 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 11%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 67% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition, 1 percentage point below the previous week of 68% and 7 percentage points below last year's 74%. Nine percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor, 1 percentage point above the previous week's 8% and 3 percentage points above the previous year's 6%. As expected, the Dakotas led the weekly declines, with North Dakota's good-to-excellent rating falling 10 percentage points and its very-poor-to-poor rating gaining 6 points after a hot, dry week, according to DTN Lead Analyst Rhett Montgomery.

SOYBEANS

-- Crop development: Soybeans blooming was pegged at 66%, 6 percentage points ahead of both last year and the five-year average of 60%. Soybeans setting pods were estimated at 32%, 8 percentage points ahead of last year and the five-year average of 24%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 66% of soybeans that had emerged were in good-to-excellent condition, 1 point above the previous week of 65% and 2 points below the previous year of 68%. Describing the improvement as "a somewhat surprising turn of events," Montgomery noted that the Dakotas led the weekly declines while top-producing Illinois and Iowa both showed improvements. North Dakota's soybean crop was rated 52% good to excellent, South Dakota was 58%, Illinois' was 59% and Iowa's was 79%.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Harvest progress: Harvest moved ahead 7 percentage points last week to reach 74% complete nationwide as of Sunday. That was 2 percentage points ahead of last year's 72% and 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 71%.

SPRING WHEAT

-- Crop development: Eighty-six percent of spring wheat was headed, steady with last year's pace and 1 percentage point ahead of the five-year average of 85%.

-- Crop condition: NASS estimated that 53% of the crop was in good-to-excellent condition nationwide, down 5 percentage points from 58% the previous week. Montgomery said the decline came as no surprise following a hot, dry week, noting that Washington was the only one of the six reporting states to improve. Top-producing North Dakota's good-to-excellent rating fell 7 percentage points to 58%.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

A cold front will finally end the heat wave, but rainfall will be uneven as severe weather shifts east and dryness lingers in the northern Corn Belt, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"Well, we finally have an end to the heat wave as a cold front will be pushing south across the country over the first half of the week," Baranick said. "Temperatures in some areas will be going from 10 degrees above normal to 10 degrees below normal. The relief will be welcomed, but we're not expecting a whole lot of rain out of it. The front itself will be focusing on rainfall on the eastern half of the Corn Belt as it pushes through. We will be watching for severe weather across Iowa and Wisconsin on Monday, then the Ohio Valley into the Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday. Tornadoes and strong winds are the largest concerns and they could be widespread.

"But the front won't clear the entire country. It'll get stuck in the Central Plains and little disturbances will be moving along it, bringing scattered showers to Nebraska, Kansas, and parts of Iowa and Missouri as well. Some severe weather and heavy rain will be possible essentially from Wednesday through Friday. That should help with recent dryness. But the Dakotas, Minnesota, and northern Iowa, areas that saw the most intense heat last week, will be areas that stay relatively drier this week. That could continue the stresses even though the temperatures are coming down.

"There will be a battle between warmer temperatures in the West and cooler temperatures in the east going forward, which leaves the middle of the country in the battle zone. Usually that would mean several fronts and periods of precipitation, but models are favoring warmer temperatures and lower precipitation as we head into the last week of the month. We'll have to see which areas get some precipitation and cooler temperatures, and which ones will not. We could see crop conditions falling at an inopportune time as we get more corn into the pollination period and soybeans into setting pods."

**

To view weekly crop progress reports issued by National Ag Statistics Service offices in individual states, visit http://www.nass.usda.gov/…. Look for the U.S. map in the "Find Data and Reports by" section and choose the state you wish to view in the drop-down menu. Then look for that state's "Crop Progress & Condition" report.

**

Editor's Note: How are your crops looking? Are they better, worse or right on track with USDA NASS' observations this week? Send us your comments, and we'll include them in next week's Crop Progress report story. You can email comments to talk@dtn.com. Please include the location of where you farm.

**

National Crop Progress Summary
	This	Last	Last	5-Year
	Week	Week	Year	Avg.
Corn silking	59	34	53	54
Corn dough	13	6	13	11
Soybeans blooming	66	50	60	60
Soybeans setting pods	32	19	24	24
Winter wheat harvested	74	67	72	71
Spring wheat headed	86	72	86	85
Cotton squaring	73	60	70	72
Cotton setting bolls	32	22	32	32
Sorghum headed	34	30	27	31
Sorghum coloring	16	11	17	18
Oats headed	97	93	95	94
Oats harvested	22	10	19	18
Barley headed	89	79	75	83
Rice headed	47	35	44	40
Peanuts pegging	77	65	79	76

**

National Crop Condition Summary
(VP=Very Poor; P=Poor; F=Fair; G=Good; E=Excellent)
	VP	P	F	G	E
Corn
This Week	2	7	24	51	16
Prev Week	2	6	24	53	15
Prev Year	1	5	20	56	18
DTN 5-Yr Avg	5	10	26	46	13
Soybeans
This Week	2	6	26	53	13
Prev Week	2	6	27	53	12
Prev Year	2	5	25	54	14
DTN 5-Yr Avg	4	10	28	47	11
Spring Wheat
This Week	1	11	35	48	5
Prev Week	1	9	32	54	4
Prev Year	3	13	32	47	5
DTN 5-Yr Avg	8	16	29	40	7
Rice
This Week	1	3	25	55	16
Prev Week	0	1	21	59	19
Prev Year	1	2	18	58	21
DTN 5-Yr Avg	1	3	22	58	17
Oats
This Week	7	13	30	43	7
Prev Week	7	12	29	46	6
Prev Year	8	10	24	49	9
DTN 5-Yr Avg	7	9	30	48	6
Barley
This Week	1	11	44	41	3
Prev Week	1	10	41	46	2
Prev Year	2	14	39	42	3
DTN 5-Yr Avg	1	7	39	48	4
Peanuts
This Week	1	6	33	53	7
Prev Week	1	7	31	53	8
Prev Year	0	4	27	59	10
DTN 5-Yr Avg	2	8	32	51	7
Cotton
This Week	4	14	37	36	9
Prev Week	5	11	40	36	8
Prev Year	6	7	30	48	9
DTN 5-Yr Avg	12	17	30	34	6

EllaMae Reiff can be reached at ellamae.reiff@dtn.com

Follow her on social platform X @ellareiff

(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.