The corn and soybean harvest is running far behind normal, says the weekly Crop Progress report. Some 31 percent of the corn crop and 53 percent of the soybean crop was in the bin at the start of this week. Corn is 22 points below the five-year average, with progress slowest in the upper Midwest. Soybeans are 13 points behind the average pace, with many states lagging, says USDA. There have been reports farmers were letting high-moisture corn dry on the stalk rather than harvest now and pay the cost of fuel to run a grain dryer.
Economist Darrel Good says the strain on storage facilities may be the headache that was expected, given the record size of both crops. Writing at farmdoc daily, Good says weather-related harvest delays to date and a rapid rate of consumption mean that overall storage issues may be less severe than feared this year.” Good estimated consumption of corn, soybeans and wheat from Sept 1-Oct 16 at 3.2 billion bushels. “That magnitude of consumption has substantially reduced the requirement for crop storage capacity,” he said, which resulted in “a modest strengthening” of local prices for corn and soybeans.