During the preceding 17 years, the record amount of U.S. harvested by September 23 had been 24 percent in 2000.  Similarly, more than one-fifth of the soybeans had been harvested by September 23.  Prior to this year, the record-setting soybean harvest pace by September 23 had been 18 percent in 2000. Meanwhile, prospects for U.S. winter wheat have brightened in some areas due to recent and ongoing rainfall.  In particular, beneficial rain has fallen from the central and southern Plains into the Ohio Valley.  By September 23, one-quarter of the winter wheat had been planted, two percentage points behind the five-year average.  Seeding has been especially slow across the northwestern half of the Plains and portions of the Northwest, as producers continue to await moisture.  On the 23rd, wheat planting was more than five percentage points behind average in South Dakota (37 percent planted versus the average of 52 percent), Colorado (42 percent vs. 54 percent), Nebraska (47 percent vs. 59 percent), Montana (35 percent vs. 43 percent), and Idaho (28 percent vs. 34 percent). In fact, some of the nation’s driest conditions cover the northwestern half of the Plains.  On September 23, Nebraska led the nation with 98 percent of its rangeland and pastures rated very poor to poor.  Overall, 56 percent of the nation’s rangeland and pastures were rated very poor to poor on the 23 rd, down from a peak of 59 percent in August and early September.  In contrast to the poor conditions across much of the western and central U.S., at least half of the pastures were rated good to excellent in Tennessee, along with every Gulf and Atlantic coastal state from Louisiana to Maryland.