HRW crop ratings show more improvement in January

State-level winter wheat crop condition ratings  signaled more general improvement in the HRW crop over the past month, led by top producer Kansas and Nebraska. The “good” to “excellent” ratings for HRW wheat rose 11 points in Kansas (to 54%), 21 points in Nebraska (69%) and two points in Colorado (63%) during January. The “good” to “excellent” ratings for HRW wheat declined seven points in Texas (42%), four points in Oklahoma (63%), one point in South Dakota (53%) and two points in Montana (41%) over the past month.

When the state crop ratings are plugged into the weighted Pro Farmer Crop Condition Index (0 to 500-point scale, with 500 being perfect), the HRW crop improved 11.6 points from the end of December to 345.3 and stood 22.0 points above USDA’s final national rating at the end of November.