Corn Crop Lowered but Record Still Expected

Cindy Zimmerman

corn-fieldDespite a wet spring causing a challenging start to the season, the 2013 corn crop is still looking to break new ground this year, according to the latest USDA production estimate out today.

Corn production is forecast at 13.8 billion bushels, up 28 percent from 2012. If realized, this will be a new record production for the United States. Based on conditions as of August 1, yields are expected to average 154.4 bushels per acre, up 31.0 bushels from 2012. If realized, this will be the highest average yield since 2009. Area harvested for grain is forecast at 89.1 million acres, unchanged from the June forecast but up 2 percent from 2012.

Soybean production is forecast at 3.26 billion bushels, up 8 percent from last year and could be the third largest on record. This report reflected a re-survey from the June acreage report which had a large amount of unplanted acres in 14 major producing states. The re-survey resulted in a downward revision of less than one percent from the June report at 77.2 million acres.

Brian Hoops of Midwest Market Solutions analyzed both the Crop Production report and the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange crop call immediately after today’s release. MGEX Crop Call with Brian Hoops

Audio, USDA