Winter wheat condition started the 2026 growing season in noticeably weaker shape than a year ago, according to DTN’s summary of the first national USDA Crop Progress report of the year. The report said U.S. winter wheat was rated 35% good to excellent as of April 5, down 13 points from 48% at the same time last year. DTN tied that weaker start to widespread drought in the Central and Southern Plains.
The same report also showed that 31% of the winter wheat crop was rated poor to very poor, compared with 21% a year earlier. That puts more early-season attention on the hard red winter wheat belt, where dry conditions have remained a major issue. While not every state is in the same situation, the opening national condition score suggests growers are entering spring with a more fragile crop than they had in 2025.
Winter wheat condition is weakest in several key Plains states
DTN said Oklahoma had the highest very poor to poor winter wheat rating at 54%. Texas followed at 51%, and Colorado was at 49% very poor to poor. Those figures help explain why the national good to excellent number started so low, especially with drought still affecting major wheat areas across the Plains. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Kansas, the top winter wheat producing state, was rated 38% good to excellent, 38% fair, and 24% very poor to poor. By contrast, Washington posted a much stronger 86% good to excellent rating. That split shows how uneven wheat conditions are across the country at the start of the season. The original DTN report is available here DTN Crop Progress report.
Crop development is slightly ahead of last year
Despite the weaker condition scores, some development figures were close to normal or slightly ahead. DTN reported that 7% of winter wheat was headed nationwide as of April 5. That was 2 percentage points ahead of last year’s 5% and equal to the five-year average.
Texas was moving faster than the national pace, with 30% of its winter wheat headed. DTN said that was 7 points ahead of last year and 5 points above the state’s average pace. So while condition ratings remain a concern, crop progress itself is not broadly lagging at this stage. For the underlying official reports by state, USDA NASS also directs readers to its crop progress pages at USDA NASS.
Corn and spring wheat planting are close to normal
The DTN update also included early planting progress for other crops. Corn planting was 3% complete nationwide as of April 5, which was 1 point ahead of last year and equal to the five-year average. DTN noted that Texas was leading the national pace at 59% planted.
Spring wheat planting was 2% complete nationwide, 1 point behind last year but equal to the five-year average. Idaho was 18% planted, matching last year and running 4 points ahead of its average pace, while Washington was 12% planted, 1 point ahead of last year but 5 points behind its average. Those figures suggest that planting is generally near normal even as winter wheat remains under stress.
More rain could help some wheat areas in the week ahead
DTN’s weather section said widespread rain last week brought drought relief across much of the country, although it also made fieldwork harder in some places. Looking ahead, DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick said a more active pattern is expected after a couple of colder and drier days, with a front in the Central Plains later this week and another larger system moving into the Southwest and Plains over the weekend and into early next week.
DTN said that pattern could bring widespread showers and thunderstorms to some of the worst drought areas in the country and improve conditions for hard red winter wheat. At the same time, parts of the Delta and Southeast are expected to stay drier and miss much of that activity. For broader market and crop coverage in English, readers can also see Agroinformacion. The original report was published by DTN on its agriculture news website on April 6, 2026.