Row Crops Today — May 21, 2026
The 5-minute 5 AM brief for row crop producers and ag professionals
Headline Stack
📊 Soybean planting hits 67% complete, 14 points ahead of five-year average
🌧️ Northwest Missouri farmer takes 7 inches of rain in 48 hours, faces widespread replant
🔬 Glufosinate-resistant waterhemp confirmed, closing the door on post-only soybean programs
⛽ Ethanol production climbs to 1.111 million barrels per day, a five-week high
💰 Illinois Extension trims 2026 corn price assumption to $5.75, raises fertilizer costs
Top Story
📊 Soybean planting runs 14 points ahead of the five-year average. — LINK
USDA's latest Crop Progress report puts soybean planting at 67% complete nationwide, well ahead of the five-year average of 53%, while corn planting reached 76% complete — slightly ahead of average and in line with last year. Spring wheat planting hit 73% complete, but winter wheat conditions continue to lag, with only 28% of the crop rated in the top category versus 52% a year ago. Dry conditions are building across parts of the Corn Belt as the back half of the planting window arrives. "Farmers are also closely monitoring dry conditions developing across parts of the Corn Belt," RFD News reported, citing Lewis Williamson of HTS Commodities, who joined the network's Market Day Report Tuesday to discuss the report and weather impacts on regional planting progress. Globally, USDA projects world rice production will fall to 538 million metric tons this year from 543 million last year — the first decline in more than a decade, with the largest cuts in the U.S., India, and Myanmar as growers pull back on rice acreage amid rising fertilizer and energy costs.
More This Week
🌧️ Northwest Missouri farmer hit with 7 inches of rain in 48 hours. — LINK
Atchison County, Missouri farmer Ryan Meyerkorth received more than six inches of rain across April and another seven inches in the last 48 hours, leaving sections of soybean fields underwater and triggering widespread replant demand.
"The crops are kind of going backwards right now, but they are young and they have time to recover," said Ryan Meyerkorth, Atchison County farmer. "There definitely will be some replant in our area. So the tops have been taken off, I think, as far as big yields."
Meyerkorth, who also sells seed, said replant calls for corn and soybeans across his territory have been heavy, and more rain is in the forecast over the next several days.
🔬 Glufosinate-resistant waterhemp confirmed in the Upper Midwest. — LINK
University of Minnesota Extension has confirmed glufosinate-resistant waterhemp populations in the Upper Midwest, eliminating the last widely available post-emergence mode of action in soybeans and forcing growers toward PRE-plus-post residual programs.
The confirmation follows previously documented waterhemp resistance to glyphosate, ALS inhibitors, PPO inhibitors, HPPD inhibitors, and 2,4-D across portions of the Corn Belt.
Extension specialists are recommending overlapping residual herbicides at planting and layered post applications timed to weeds no taller than four inches.
⛽ Ethanol production averages 1.111 million barrels per day. — LINK
U.S. ethanol production averaged 1.111 million barrels per day last week, the highest level since early April, up 29,000 bpd on the week and 75,000 bpd above the same week last year on stronger demand expectations and margins.
Ethanol stocks rose to 24.875 million barrels, 5,000 higher than the prior week and 69,000 above year-ago levels, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data cited by the Renewable Fuels Association.
USDA's updated corn-for-ethanol use estimate is scheduled for release June 11; ethanol exports averaged 149,000 barrels per day last week, down 13,000 from the prior week but up 55,000 year over year.
💰 Illinois Extension cuts 2026 corn price to $5.75, raises fertilizer costs. — LINK
The University of Illinois Extension's spring revision to its 2026 crop budgets cut the corn price assumption to $5.75 per bushel from $6.00 and set nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizer costs at $115 per ton each, reflecting recent price hikes.
The soybean price assumption was raised to $13.50 per bushel from $13.00 on tighter global supplies; corn yield expectations were set at 190 bushels per acre in southern Illinois and 180 in the north, with soybean yields at 55 and 50 bushels per acre respectively.
General operating costs — including fuel, labor, and equipment depreciation — were raised 2% across all crops, and insurance premiums were adjusted upward by 3% to reflect higher risk assessments.
Basis Watch
South Dakota Central soybeans firmed 15 cents on Wednesday, the day's largest move across either commodity. The strength extended through the northern Plains, with South Dakota North Central, South Dakota Northeast, and North Dakota East Central soybean bids each improving 10 cents. Missouri Central and Missouri Northeast old-crop soybean basis firmed 5 cents. The pattern lines up with the spring clearout window, when old-crop supplies tighten ahead of planting.
On the corn side, Iowa Northeast led with a 6-cent improvement on old-crop bids. Kansas West Central, Missouri Central, Missouri Northeast, South Dakota Southeast, and Minnesota South each firmed 5 cents. North Dakota East Central was the lone decliner of note, with old-crop corn basis weakening 5 cents.
Source: USDA AMS
Soybean export sales for the week ending May 7 fell to 3.8 million bushels — the lowest of the 2025/26 marketing year — with China accounting for 2.5 million bushels of that total.
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