Winter wheat overall was rated 34% good to excellent, 34% fair and 32% poor to very poor, down slightly from 35%, 36% and 29%, respectively, a week earlier and similar to 36%, 33% and 31%, respectively, a year ago.

But in the top-producing hard red winter state of Kansas, 26% of the crop was rated good to excellent, down from 29% a week earlier, 44% fair, the same as the prior week, and 30% poor to very poor, up from 27% a week earlier. In Oklahoma, only 14% of the crop was rated good to excellent, down from 15% the prior week, with 54% rated poor to very poor, up from 48% a week earlier. The Texas good to excellent rating was unchanged at 13%, but the poor to very poor rating was up 2 points to 63%.

Crop development lagged the average pace with 16% jointed in Texas (28% as the 2009-13 average for the date), and 4% in Oklahoma (21% average).

Condition ratings improved in six of the seven Central and south soft wheat states, with Michigan showing a slight decline at 57% good to excellent compared with 58% a week earlier. One per cent of the soft wheat was headed in Arkansas (29% as average) and in North Carolina (16% average).

Spring wheat planting was under way but also lagging the average pace in the Upper Midwest with 6% of the crop seeded in South Dakota (22% as the 2009-13 average) and 3% in Montana (8% average). Seeding was ahead of average at 56% in Idaho and 46% in Washington. The six-state aggregate planting number was 6% as of April 13, with seeding not yet under way in the key states of North Dakota and Minnesota.

The corn crop in the 18 major states was 3% planted as of April 13, slightly ahead of 2% a year ago but behind 6% as the 2009-13 average, the U.S.D.A. said. Planting in Illinois was 1% completed (10% as the average), Missouri 9% (16% average), Kansas 11% (9% average) and Nebraska 1% (1% average). Planting had not yet begun in top-producing Iowa.