USDA has increased its estimate of both the corn and soybean crops this month, building on already forecast record highs.

Corn production is forecast at 14.4 billion bushels, up 3 percent from both the August forecast and from 2013. Based on conditions as of September 1, yields are expected to average 171.7 bushels per acre, up 4.3 bushels from the August forecast and 12.9 bushels above the 2013 average. If realized, this will be the highest yield and production on record for the United States. Area harvested for grain is forecast at 83.8 million acres, unchanged from the August forecast but down 4 percent from 2013.

Soybean production is forecast at a record 3.91 billion bushels, up 3 percent from August and up 19 percent from last year. Based on September 1 conditions, yields are expected to average a record high 46.6 bushels per acre, up 1.2 bushels from last month and up 3.3 bushels from last year. Area for harvest in the United States is forecast at a record 84.1 million acres, unchanged from August but up 11 percent from last year.

“It will be the fifth record crop that we’ve had in the last 12 years,” says National Corn Growers Association Vice President of Public Policy Jon Doggett, who noted that prices are falling as the bushels are rising. “We are selling corn today at about 35% of what we did just a couple of years ago, certainly below the cost of production for many of our growers.”

Doggett commented on the crop during a during a press call today discussing the importance of EPA keeping the ethanol requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) going forward. “When the energy bill was passed in 2008, there was a challenge to the corn industry to produce the corn, and we have produced the corn,” he said. Jon Doggett, NCGA comments on corn crop