USDA lowered new crop yields for corn and soybeans in the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand report. The average corn yield was revised down 1.3 bushels to 173.8 bushels per acre, and soybeans down 0.8 bushels to 50.1 bushels per acre. However, American Farm Bureau Federation Economist Betty Resnick says that didn’t lower corn production expectations.
“The decrease in yields were expected due to hot and dry conditions throughout the Midwest. But because there was a really big jump in planted acres, that offset the decrease in yields, leading to a bigger estimated production for corn this year. Soybeans are expected to have a lower production as compared to the August report because of that decrease in yield.”
Resnick explains how USDA used planted acres to find an increase in corn production.
“A lot of that was driven by large increases in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Minnesota, in addition to other states. Some people were fearing that corn yield was going to be even lower. However, the September report is the first WASDE report of the year to incorporate objective yield estimates, and we’re looking at a record number of corn ears per acre, which is exciting and also kind of booming those yields despite the poor condition.”
This September report also marks the 50th anniversary of WASDE reports, providing valuable information to agriculture.
“The WASDE report was actually created after the Great Grain Robbery of 1972 with the first WASDE report coming out in September of 1973, where the Soviet Union was able to buy an immense amount of U.S. wheat at subsidized prices. We sold them that wheat not knowing that they had a massive crop shortfall at the time, so the WASDE report was created in response to that incident. WASDE puts everyone on equal footing and puts a lot of transparency into the market.”