U.S. farmers are harvesting their fourth soybean crop in a row to exceed 4 billion bushels and the second corn crop in three years to top 15 billion bushels, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. Until a few years ago, those milestones were out of reach but they may be common in coming years.
The first 15 billion-bushel corn crop was grown in 2016, the same year as the first 4 billion-bushel soybean crop. Since then, soybean crops have topped 4 billion bushels every year except for 2019. Counting this year, three corn crops have reached the 15 billion-bushel mark.
A University of Missouri think tank projects nothing but 15 billion-bushel corn and 4 billion-bushel soybean crops for the next five years, thanks to large plantings and ever-increasing yields per acre. A decade ago, the 2013 corn crop of 13.8 billion bushels was the largest on record and the soybean crop of 3.358 billion bushels was second-largest ever. Corn and soybeans are the most widely planted U.S. crops. Over the years, growers have shifted toward corn and soybeans and away from wheat and cotton.
Corn and soybeans are ingredients in a range of foods, are fed to livestock to produce meat, eggs and milk, and used by industry. About 35 percent of the corn crop is used in making ethanol. Nearly half of U.S. soybean oil produced in 2023/24 will be used in making biomass-based diesel fuel. Fuel demand for soy oil is rising rapidly; two years ago, 40 percent of it was used in biodiesel and renewable diesel.
In its monthly Crop Production report, the USDA estimated this year’s corn crop at 15.064 billion bushels and soybeans at 4.104 billion bushels. The corn crop would be 10 percent larger than the drought-hit crop of 2022 and the soybean crop would be 4 percent smaller than last year. The 2022 crop was the fourth-largest ever at 4.270 billion bushels. This year’s crop would rank eighth.
USDA analysts said the corn and soybean crops would fetch high season-average prices although a step down from the near-record prices paid for the 2022 crops. Corn would sell for an average $4.95 a bushel and soybeans for $12.90 a bushel. By comparison, the 2022 corn crop averaged $6.54 a bushel and soybeans $14.20 a bushel. Commodity prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The USDA lowered its estimate of corn and soybean exports during the current marketing year. Corn was pared by 25 million bushels, to 2.025 billion bushels, due to “slow early-season demand” and soybeans by 35 million bushels, to 1.755 billion bushels, because of competition from South American exporters. Brazil is the world’s largest soybean and corn exporter. The United States is second in both crops.