A quick check of wheat conditions

Winter wheat harvest in the U.S. has chugged along in recent weeks and surpassed the 50% complete mark, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

Weather in both the East and the West has been mostly cooperative, which allowed for good progress and limited late-season disease pressure, keeping quality fairly good.

Diving into the numbers a bit, the 63% harvest progress number printed in the USDA crop progress update last week is 7% behind last year but just 1% behind the five-year average as the national pace continues to be mostly normal. 

In the Western Corn Belt, Texas is 90% done with harvest, while Oklahoma is 94% complete and Kansas is 93% complete; Colorado is at 47% and Nebraska is at 35% complete, although the...