(NewsDakota.com/NorthDakotaAgConnection.com) – The third week of May was a rough week for the grains.

The markets slowly eroded as the week progressed to end with heavy losses. Early support came from USDA’s May Crop Production report. The report was friendly wheat and that strength spilled over to help push wheat higher to start the week, and that strength spilled over into the other grains as well.

But by the end of the week, selling had dominated the grains with Minneapolis wheat dropping over 40 cents, Chicago wheat down 30 cents, Kansas City wheat down 50 cents, corn down 32 cents, and soybeans giving up 83 cents.

The May 15 Crop Progress report added pressure to corn and soybeans, which seemed to start the domino effect. As of May 14, 65% of the nation’s corn crop was planted versus 59% average. That was 3% below expectations but still a very strong percentage of the crop has been planted early, which leans toward higher yields. But there are a few rocky spots.

The states that are trailing in planting progress are: Colorado: 9% behind, Kansas: 1% behind, Michigan: 6% behind, North Dakota: 21% behind, Ohio: 8% behind, Texas: 3% behind, and Wisconsin: 12% behind.

Soybean planting progress was estimated at 49% complete versus 36% average. This is 2% lower than expected by the trade but still one of the fastest planting paces in recent memory. The states that are trailing behind are: Minnesota: 7%, North Dakota: 13%, and Wisconsin: 6%.

Spring wheat planting progress was estimated at 40% complete versus 57% average, 1% above expectations. Also, almost every major spring wheat producing state is trailing behind its average planting pace. Only South Dakota and Washington are ahead of average. North Dakota and Minnesota are trailing their average progress pace by 26% while Idaho is 13% behind and Montana is 7% behind.