It is now 3 May, and little planting progress has been accomplished across the Corn Belt and northern Plains. The weather remains too wet and too cold to get the planters rolling in all but a few parts of the country. The first map below shows where there are problems with flooding. Virtually every river and stream from the North Dakota/Canada border down to Texas are in some degree of flood stage. The CME declared force majeure this morning across the entire Mississippi and Illinois River systems. Water levels are too high to load barges. The Mississippi River set a new all-time, high-water mark this week in Davenport, Iowa. The previous record was established during the massive floods of 1993. 

The seven-day precipitation forecast...