Even in areas where progress was in the single digits a week ago, corn planters played a major week of catch-up in a season that's already running ahead of the normal pace by a wide margin.

Monday's USDA-NASS Crop Progress report shows 53% of the nation's corn is planted, up from 28% a week ago and more than 40% ahead of last year's pace. Some key Corn Belt states saw massive progress; farmers in Iowa had 9% of the crop sown a week ago, but by this Sunday, had 50% in the ground.

Read more on the numbers See more from Monday's USDA-NASS Crop Progress report TALK: See the latest planting progress reports from the field

"A lot of guys are done here north-central Iowa. A lot of guys with larger acreages to plant are 1 to 2 days of finishing," says Agriculture.com Marketing Talk frequent contributor dennymal. "I'm in this category. After 3 1/2 days of hard running, I have about a day left. I would estimate 70% to 75% planted."

"Doubt that half of the corn is planted in this area," adds Marketing Talk contributor nwiafmr. "Only 4 days at most last week were suitable for planting."

Farmers just to the east in Illinois saw another week of solid progress put that state's total planting tally at 79%. A year ago, only 10% of that state's crop was in the ground.