The #Plant16 hash tag has been burning up Twitter in the past week as corn planting jumped up to 13% compared to the five year average of eight percent.

According to USDA, planting progress is now ahead of average by 37 percentage points in Missouri, which at 58% planted nearly a quarter of its crop last week. Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota are all up by ten or more percentage points compared to normal at this time of year. “The weather was nearly ideal in much of the state last week and planting got underway in earnest with 13 percent of the state’s anticipated corn acres now in the ground,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said. “This is a very busy time on the farm and it is important farmers and those traveling through rural areas stay alert and keep safety in mind.”

Illinois is running slightly behind schedule with 12 percent planted compared to 14 percent average and Indiana farmers got little done last week with only one percent in the ground now compared to seven percent average.