USDA first month of crop reports are usually packed with various data on past crop production, winter wheat planted acreage, AG quarterly graded rice stocks. This January was no exception. Anthony Prillaman of the National Agricultural Statistics Service starts with the final crop production numbers for 2025 with emphasis on a record corn crop.
“Corn planted acreage at 98.8 million acres, which represents the highest area since 1936. Harvested area for grain is estimated at 91.3 million acres. This represents the highest harvested area since 1933. The 2025 average yield is estimated at a record high, 186.5 bushels per acre. Production is estimated at just over 17 billion bushels. This too represents a record high for the U.S.”
Also confirmed a new record for soybean crop yield.
“2025 average yield is estimated at a record high, 53 bushels per acre. That’s unchanged from our previous forecast back in November, but up 4.5% or 2.3 bushels from the previous season.”
Turning to winter wheat, planted acreage projections.
“Planted acreage is estimated at nearly 33 million acres. That is down half a percent, or 163,000 acres, from 2025, and this would be the lowest planted area since 2020.”
In terms of planted acreage trends by state for winter wheat,
“Most states are down from 2025. We do see increases in the southern plains, as well as a few other areas of the U.S. Now we’ll point out that both California and Nebraska are estimating record-low winter wheat acreage in 2026.”
Corn also took center stage of USDA January grain stocks report.
“Dec. 1 corn stocks: Total stocks are estimated at 13.3 billion bushels. That is up 10% from the same time last year and the highest Dec. 1 stocks level on record. On-farm stocks are up 13.5% from the previous December and also represent a record-high level, while off-farm stocks are up 3.9%.”
Other year-over-year stock forecasts include a 7% increase in all wheat stocks, a 6% rise for soybean stocks, and a 2% decrease in rice stocks from one year ago