Soybean Harvest at 88% as 2026 Corn Lags and Rain Looms

Soybean harvest reached 88% complete by Nov. 1, putting the 2026 crop four percentage points ahead of the prior five-year average, while corn harvest stood at 74%, three points below that benchmark.

USDA’s latest Crop Progress report, covering the week through Sunday, Nov. 1, showed both harvests nearing completion. Soybeans advanced from 79% a week earlier, and corn rose from 60%. The percentages measure field progress, not harvested yield, crop quality or revenue.

Where do corn and soybeans stand?

Corn’s 14-percentage-point weekly gain left 26% of the crop unharvested through Sunday. Its 74% completion rate trailed the five-year average of 77% but exceeded the average analyst estimate of 73%. Individual trade forecasts ranged from 70% to 75%, placing USDA’s result near the middle of the pre-report range.

Soybeans gained nine percentage points, reaching 88% and leaving 12% unharvested. That result matched trade expectations, whose individual estimates ranged from 85% to 90%, and stood four points above the prior five-year average of 84%. The faster pace relative to corn does not establish yield performance because the cited data include no yield results for either crop.

What do other harvests show?

Regional fieldwork also advanced across five additional crops:

• Cotton: 63% harvested, up 11 percentage points from 52%.
• Sorghum: 64% harvested, up 8 points from 56%.
• Peanuts: 66% harvested, up 15 points from 51%.
• Sugarbeets: 86% harvested, up 11 points from 75%.
• Sunflowers: 61% harvested, up 15 points from 46%.

Peanuts and sunflowers posted the largest weekly advances among those crops, each gaining 15 percentage points. Sugarbeets remained furthest along at 86%, while sunflowers had the lowest completion rate at 61%.

How is winter wheat developing?

Winter wheat planting advanced seven points, from 76% to 83%. That was one point behind the prior five-year average of 84% and three points below the average trade guess of 86%. Individual analyst estimates ranged from 83% to 90%, placing USDA’s figure at the low end of the pre-report range.

Winter wheat emergence reached 65% through Sunday, up from 53% the prior week. The 12-point increase put emergence exactly on the prior five-year average. Emergence (the share of planted acreage with emerged plants) measures crop development, not final stand count, yield or financial performance.

What could central U.S. rain change?

The report said progress was “likely to lag” over the next week, citing widespread rains set to move across the central U.S. in early November. Corn presents the larger immediate weather exposure because 26% remained unharvested, compared with 12% of soybeans.

How should the numbers be read?

USDA’s five-year averages and analyst expectations answer different questions. Historical averages compare current progress with recent seasonal benchmarks, while trade estimates measure expectations before the report. USDA’s figures are results through Sunday; the central U.S. rain outlook is a forecast. Treating them as equivalent would blur observed progress and expectation.

The broader report also provides state-by-state topsoil and subsoil moisture and days suitable for fieldwork. Those measures help explain scheduling conditions, but neither moisture nor fieldwork days converts a completion percentage into a yield result. The distinction keeps harvest pace separate from final production performance.

The cited data contain no farm-gate prices, input costs, farm margins or local basis (the difference between a local cash price and a benchmark futures price). Without those figures, growers cannot use the progress report alone to determine whether slower fieldwork changes net returns, and input suppliers cannot quantify the demand effect. The release establishes timing, not profitability.

The next test is whether early-November rains hold corn harvest below its five-year pace while soybeans and winter wheat continue advancing.