Minnesota farmers continue to make progress on planting corn and soybeans, thanks to warm, dry weather, the Associated Press reports. According to the USDA's weekly crop-weather report for Minnesota, corn planting jumped to 88 percent planted.

Minnesota corn farmers are expected to plant a record number of acres this spring. And nearly half those acres are already planted by the end of April. It's an improvement over last year, when a soggy spring delayed planting and pushed back the whole growing season.

Even though production was down, Minnesota's corn crop was worth a best-ever $7 billion. The estimate from the U.S. Department of Agriculture tops the previous record the year before. The state's soybean crop was down 13 percent from 2010.

Major seed companies including, Twin Cities-based Syngenta, saw production fall 15 to 25 percent last summer because of poor weather conditions. The President of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association told MPR the reduced seed supply is starting to cause concerns among farmers eager to plant the high profit commodity.

It's only mid-September, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture says 12 percent of Minnesota's corn crop is already harvested. The Pioneer Press notes that is roughly three weeks earlier than last year. The soybean harvest is also well ahead of the five-year average with 16 percent complete.

An official with Minnesota's Ag Department says farmers should be able to find some type of corn seed to plant this spring, but the most popular varieties may not be available. High prices have farmers all over the country boosting corn acreage. Minnesota expects about a ten percent increase over last year.