Usda Crop Report Of August
August 12, 2009
Usda Crop Report Of August:U.S. farmers will reap their largest soybean crop ever and their second-largest corn crop, mammoth harvests that will deflate an ethanol-fueled price boom, the government said in its first forecast of the fall harvest.
The Agriculture Department estimated the soybean crop at 3.199 billion bushels, corn at 12.761 billion bushels, wheat at 2.184 billion bushels and cotton at 13.21 million bales weighing 480 lbs each.
USDA said a special survey of seven states found little change in corn or soybean plantings despite a cool, wet spring that delayed planting in the eastern Corn Belt. Ideal weather in most states will bring an average corn yield of 159.5 bushels an acre, the second highest on record, USDA said, despite a downturn in the central Corn Belt.
A record soybean crop will replenish stockpiles expected to dip below a two-week supply by the time harvest starts in a few weeks. This year’s crop is forecast to sell for an average $9.40 a bushel at the farm gate. Corn will average $3.50 a bushel, said USDA. Both would be the lowest in three years, since the ethanol boom drove up prices. One-third of the corn crop is used to make fuel ethanol.
The August crop report is often regarded as the most significant USDA report of the year, reflecting the U.S. position as the largest corn and soybean exporter in the world. It is the first forecast of the fall harvest and is based on field surveys and interviews of 28,000 growers. (Reporting by Charles Abbott; editing by Jim Marshall)
