Edging closer to the number one record crop, USDA boosted the corn production forecast by two percent in the report out this morning – to an even 13 billion bushels. Still expected to be just the second largest on record, it is a mere 100 million bushels short of the 2007 record crop.

USDA is now saying yields are expected to average 161.9 bushels per acre, up 2.4 bushels from August and 8.0 bushels above last year. Yield forecasts increased from last month across the western Corn Belt and the northern half of the Great Plains as mild temperatures and adequate soil moisture supplies provided favorable growing conditions. Yield prospects were unchanged in the eastern Corn Belt where dry conditions during August depleted soil moisture supplies.

USDA also increased the soybean forecast in the new report, a record high 3.25 billion bushels, up 1 percent from the August forecast and up 10 percent from last year. Yields are expected to average 42.3 bushels per acre, with record high yields forecast for Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.

Even though both crops remain far behind normal in development, the forecast is calling for generally warm, mostly dry weather stretching into next week or so, which is great news for producers.