Last week in the USDA's weekly crop report, the condition of the nation's corn crop held steady, although there was some speculation that damage caused by torrential rains brought to the Corn Belt by Hurricane Ike might not show up until this week's report. USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says there has been a decline in the crop condition, but only a slight one.
"The crop now rated 59% good-to-excellent; a week ago 61%, a year ago 63%," Rippey says. "We've seen Ohio climb to 33% poor-to-very poor for the corn crop and also seeing some slight declines elsewhere in the Eastern Corn Belt and also the upper Midwest."
However, nationwide the crop is far behind a normal pace, with only 33% of the crop fully mature. Rippey says the five-year average is 63%, which means the crop is about two weeks behind normal.