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This week's weekly Crop Progress report from the USDA provided a first look at planting progress for some of the smaller crops in the United States.

The six-state spring wheat report indicates that 6% of the crop is now seeded, given substantial progress in Idaho (56% complete) and Washington (46% complete). North Dakota, where 49% of the expected 12.009 million acres are forecast to be planted, has not seeded anything. Montana, the next largest producer, is expected to seed 21.7% of the country's spring wheat; it currently has seeded 3% of its expected acres.

The 6% of the spring wheat planted is 1% ahead of the 5% seeded one year earlier. In total, 12.009 ma are forecast to be planted, 3.6% above last year's acreage. The largest year-over-year changes are seen in North Dakota, where an additional 800,000 acres are expected to be seeded, while in Montana, acreage is forecast to decline 350,000 acres.

The nine-state oat report suggests that 9% of the oat crop has been planted, which is well below the 38% that was planted as of the same date last year, as well as the 47% five-year average. Three of the five largest producers have not shown any progress to date, namely Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

The Prospective Planting report forecast oat acres to fall this year by 7.2% to 2.794 ma. While there is a reduction in acres forecast over many States, one of the largest year-over-year swings in acres are seen in Nebraska where oat acres are forecast to fall by 33% or 50,000 acres. The 2.794 ma is the third lowest acreage seeded in the U.S., with 2.5 ma seeded in 2011/12 and 2.76 ma seeded in 2012/13.

As of April 13, 16% of the barley has been seeded as indicated by the five-State data release, which is comparable to the 17% which had been planted by the same time in 2013. Again, progress is seen in Washington and Idaho, with a modest 3% reported to be complete in Montana.

In total, 3.165 ma of barley are expected to be seeded in 2014, down 9% or 315,000 acres for last year. The largest year over year acreage swings are seen in Montana, where acres are expected to fall 90,000 acres or 9% while in North Dakota, a drop of 110,000 acres or 14.5% are expected in 2014. U.S. barley acres reached a low of 2.56 ma in 2011/12 although have fallen in each of the past two years.

Weekly State reports from the National Agriculture Statistics Service indicate that fieldwork in North Dakota will begin by April 28 on average as melting snow has led to wet conditions, with moisture conditions rated 81% adequate and 14% surplus. The winter wheat conditions for the state are reported to be 52% Good to Excellent, 38% Fair and 10% Poor to Very Poor. This rating has improved modestly in the past week.

Wintery weather continues to slow fieldwork in Montana, where topsoil moisture in the adequate and surplus category at 89% compared to the five-year average of 76%. The 3% of the spring wheat and 3% of the barley planted in the state is well below the five-year averages of 8% and 16%, respectively; 65% of the state's winter wheat crop is rated as Good to Excellent, 30% Fair and 5% Poor to Very Poor. This rating is slightly higher than the previous week.

Cliff Jamieson can be reached at cliff.jamieson@dtn.com

Follow Cliff Jamieson on Twitter @CliffJamieson

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