The corn and soybean crops will be slightly smaller than forecast by USDA, says Pro Farmer at the end of a week-long sampling of fields across the Midwest and northern Plains. Dozens of crop scouts followed predetermined routes through seven major states to gather data for the estimates. Pro Farmer estimated a corn crop of 13.323 billion bushels, 2.3-percent smaller, and a soybean crop of 3.887 billion bushels, or nearly 1-percent smaller than the USDA’s Aug. 12 forecasts.
They still would be the second-largest soybean and third-largest corn crops ever. Coming on the heels of record-setting harvests in 2014, corn and soybean stockpiles would remain large and commodity prices would be under pressure. Pro Farmer says yields will be a bit lower than the USDA’s field surveys indicated. “Even with a normal end to the growing season, we have concerns about the corn crop’s ability to hold yield potential given nitrogen deficiency across the eastern Corn Belt.” Recent rains “will help soybeans fill pods and even allow some late-planted soybeans to add pods,” it said.