In a survey, traders said they expect USDA to project record crops of corn, at 13.945 billion bushels and soybeans, at 3.774 billion bushels with 2014/15 ending stocks of 1.774 billion bushels of corn, the largest in nine years, and 418 million bushels of soybeans, the largest in eight years. USDA has projected record corn and soybean yields this year, a key factor for record-large crops.
Purdue economist David Widmar said in a blog that a corn yield of 180-190 bushels an acre is in the realm of statistical possibility but cautioned, “there is no way to know, today, how this year’s corn crop will develop and mature.” In a similar exercise, University of Illinois economists Scott Irwin and Darrel Good said at farmdoc daily, “Expectations of a U.S. average corn yield above trend value in 2014 seem justified by current crop condition ratings.” They discussed factors that could push the U.S. average yield into the stratosphere.