The latest weekly crop progress report from the US Department of Agriculture indicates that the condition of the American corn crop has deteriorated, with the good-to-excellent rating falling by one percentage point from the previous week to its lowest level for this point in the season since 2023.

According to the USDA's report, across the 18 states that account for 91% of the nation's corn acreage, the silking stage had reached 97% as of Sunday, August 16th, an increase from 94% the prior week and in line with both last year's pace and the five-year average for this period.

The report also detailed other developmental benchmarks for the crop. The dough stage had been reached by 76% of the corn, a significant jump from 61% the previous week and ahead of the 70% recorded last year and the 70% five-year average. Meanwhile, 29% of the crop had entered the dented stage, up from 16% the prior week, surpassing the 25% from last year and the 24% five-year average. Corn reaching maturity stood at 4%, compared with 3% last year and the five-year average of 3%.

The overall crop condition rating saw the good-to-excellent category drop to 60%, down from 61% last week and well below the 71% recorded at the same time last year. Concurrently, the poor-to-very-poor category rose to 15%, up from 14% a week earlier and 8% at this time in the previous season. Prior to the report's release, analysts had predicted the good-to-excellent rating would come in at 60%.

In related background data, the USDA's August 12th supply and demand report projected the 2026 US corn planted area, encompassing all uses, at 96.7 million acres. This figure is higher than the 95.34 million acres forecast in the June planting report but represents a reduction of 2.09 million acres, or 2.12%, from the 2025 total of 98.79 million acres. This revised decrease is narrower than the previous estimate, which had projected a cut of 3.445 million acres, or 3.49%.