USDA released their final Crop Progress and Condition report of the season on Monday November 24th.This year’s growing season showed a mostly normal rate of fieldwork during planting and harvesting windows.
Planting lagged early in the season due to wet conditions in the south, but as that eased farmers were able to catch up to more normal rates by late April. The wetter than normal Spring in the south did have a minor impact on delays in cotton planting, leading to a similar delay in harvest progress.
The government shutdown caused reports scheduled to be released between October 6th and November 10th to be cancelled, causing gaps in the official USDA data for the 2025 harvest. Weather conditions for harvest were mostly favorable in the Midwest and other major production areas, although most commodities were shown to be slightly behind the breakneck pace of the 2024 season with the limited data available.
Condition ratings for corn, soybeans, and cotton were above their five-year averages for most of the year. Corn surpassed both the average and 2024 values in late June and never fell below those marks again, despite disease pressure and rainfall levels that were not always optimal for some portions of the corn belt. These high ratings from USDA set the stage for a potential record yield to be realized in USDA’s final production estimate in January.
Soybeans ratings trended high for most of the season but fell back below 2024 ratings at the end of the growing season. This was mostly attributed to one of the driest Augusts on record for some parts of the country, especially those surrounding the Ohio River Valley.
Winter wheat ratings, while occasionally dipping below 2024 levels, still performed exceptionally better than the five-year average. The ‘all wheat’ yield published by USDA in September set a record at 53.3 bushels per acre.
The late planting of some cotton did cause lower ratings at the start of the year, but those were quickly shaken off by July as the quality of the crop improved. Cotton is typically more drought tolerant than the other major crops, and the dry August month in the mid-South did not appear to cause significant stress. Ratings were also boosted by West Texas dryland acres receiving adequate precipitation this year.
USDA will resume regular reports of progress and condition in April 2026. Monthly updates on winter conditions impacting crops and livestock will be released from December to March.