ST. LOUIS (AP) — U.S. farmers are making the most of break in the seemingly unceasing spring rains to plant corn, though the pace still remains well behind schedule, the latest federal figures showed Monday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in its weekly update of the nation’s crop progress, said 28 percent of U.S. cornfields have been planted, more than double the 12 percent of just a week earlier. But the numbers were nothing like last year, when 85 percent of the corn was planted because of an early spring. And this year falls well short of the 65 percent of the crop that already was in the ground by this date over the previous five years.