The combines are really rolling this week, and while corn harvest is closer to the normal pace, soybean harvesters made the most progress in the last 7 days, according to Monday's USDA-NASS Crop Progress report.

As of Sunday, 21% of the nation's corn crop is out of the field and 19% of the soybeans are harvested, according to USDA. Corn harvest is just 2% off the normal pace and soybeans are 6% behind normal. But, while corn harvest progress was 6% higher than the previous week, soybean farmers made a 14% jump in the same period of time, USDA reported Monday.

• See more from Monday's report

Moisture is getting to manageable levels in the soybean crop in the Corn Belt, especially from Interstate 35 west. Michael Lewis says his soybeans are down to 13% moisture, and he's making good progress in his fields near Perry in west-central Iowa.

Though the picture's not always as pretty in the crops further south and west, the combines are making progress in the Plains, too. Though yields are far from consistent, they are touching some points above trend, especially in soybeans, says southwest Kansas farmer and Farmersforthefuture.com member Nick.

"Good corn fields are few and far apart; 140- to 150-bushel-per-acre irrigated corn seems to be the norm this year, with some over 200 and some below 100," he says. "Beans look really good still but are drying out very uneven. Botton pods are split open and top pods still green. Have from 11% to 22% moisture 30 feet apart."

• Forum: Where are the combines rolling?

Looking ahead, it should be another week of big harvest progress in most of the nation's midsection, according to Craig Solberg, ag meteorologist with Freese-Notis Weather, Inc., in Des Moines, Iowa. Moisture will be sparse, allowing further in-field drying for both the corn and soybean crops.

"In the Midwest, look for this to be a very big week for harvesting, especially for soybeans, given that all of the region will have dry weather for the next five days and the eastern Midwest will stay completely dry for the 6-10 day time frame as well," says Solberg.