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Illinois corn, soybean planting ahead of average

Illinois farmers made expansive planting progress last week pushing both corn and soybean planting ahead of the 5-year average.

Soybeans planted reached 18%, compared to 2% last year and 4% on average. When looking at data from the last decade, this is the most progress made on soybean planting, topping 2012 by 5 percentage points.

The USDA reports as of Sunday, 37% of the Illinois corn crop is planted, compared to 7% last year and the five-year-average of 31%. One percent of the crop has emerged which is three percentage points behind average.

Winter wheat is 6% headed in Illinois and the crop is rated 63% good to excellent.