crop forecast
Record soybean plantings to top corn for first time in 34 years
In a survey by Farm Futures magazine, farmers say they will abandon corn and wheat in favor of planting the largest area ever to soybeans, the crop most likely to turn a profit this year. "If achieved, soybeans would attract more acres than corn for the first time since the PIK year of 1983, when growers idled ground in a government program," says Farm Futures.
Smallest U.S. winter wheat plantings in 108 years
Faced by the lowest average wheat prices in a decade, U.S. growers slashed winter wheat plantings to their lowest level since 1909, when USDA began its wheat records. The 10 percent cut in acreage from 2016 sets the stage for potentially the smallest harvest in four decades of winter wheat, used in bread and other baked goods.
Cotton prices on the rise, so is global production
Five nations – India, China, the United States, Pakistan and Brazil – account for three-fourths of global cotton production and all of them, except for China, will expand output in the current trade year, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee. With harvests forecast to rise by 8 percent worldwide, there will be pressure on cotton prices during the final half of the year.
USDA sees big crops, low prices ahead; farm income stress likely
In its first look at the coming year for the farm sector, USDA projects two of the largest corn and soybean crops ever and continued low commodity prices that have pulled down farm income since 2013. In USDA's most recent forecast, net farm income is forecast at $71.5 billion this year, the lowest in nine years. Outside experts expect little improvement in 2017.
Global grain cushion to be ‘even more comfortable’ than expected
Farmers around the world will harvest record-setting wheat, corn and rice crops, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, citing improved prospects for the Russian wheat crop, larger rice plantings in Asia and the mammoth U.S. corn crop nearly ready for harvest. With huge amounts of grain flowing into warehouses, supplies will be "even more comfortable than predicted at the start of the season."
Big harvests expected to take prices to 10-year lows
Record-setting corn and wheat harvests worldwide will pull the average prices for this year's crops to lower prices than expected early this year, says a University of Missouri think tank. Although soybean prices will be higher than the think tank's projections in April, the three crops — accounting for 232 million acres of farmland this year — suggests no more than a minor recovery is likely.
Record-setting world grain, soybean crops forecast
Prospects for wheat and corn crops brightened in the past month, chiefly in the United States and the former Soviet Union, so the world is headed for "an all-time peak" grain crop of 2.069 billion tonnes, forecast the International Grains Council, based in London. The forecast is a sharp 3 percent larger than in July and portends the largest grain glut on record.
Booming U.S. corn crop questioned, but soybeans fine
An annual tour of the corn belt found evidence that a recent U.S. government forecast for record production might be a bit too rosy, because hot weather has appeared to harm the crop, according to Bloomberg news. "Dozens of people -- among them farmers, agronomists and journalists -- inspecting fields on this week’s Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour are reporting corn yields that trail projections made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture less than two weeks ago," Bloomberg said.
With record harvest, Russia to displace EU as top wheat exporter
Russia will shatter its record for wheat production with a harvest of 72 million tonnes this year, far exceeding the record set in 2008 of 63.7 million tonnes, says USDA. The record crop will vault Russia ahead of the EU as the world's top exporter for the first time, with the United States in third place, according to USDA's Grain: World Markets and Trade report.
Global food price index down marginally as bumper grain crop looms
Corn prices are down sharply around the world, reflecting favorable growing weather in the United States, helping to pull down the FAO Food Price Index. The UN agency said cereal prices fell by 5.6 percent and vegetable oil prices dropped by 2.8 percent during July, offsetting firmer dairy, meat and sugar prices.
US corn, wheat crops drive near-record world harvest
Corn production will surge by a hefty 5 percent worldwide, pushing global grain production to within shouting distance of the record set two years ago, said the International Grains Council. Bigger-than-expected wheat and corn crops in the United States will be a factor in the near-record harvest and an expansion in the season-ending "carry over" stocks for the fourth year in a row.
Spring wheat yields retreat to average level, say crop scouts
The U.S. hard red spring wheat crop, a variety used in flour for bread, will yield 45.7 bushels an acre, said crop scouts after a three-day tour of the northern Plains. At that rate, the yield would be on track with the five-year average forecast produced by the crop tour and well below the forecast of 49.9 bushels an acre that scouts calculated at the end of last year's pre-harvest tour, said Reuters.
World heads for second-largest grains harvest ever
The outlook for wheat and corn crops in the major grain-growing countries of the world has improved by 10 million tonnes in the past month, said the International Grains Council in forecasting the second-largest global grain harvest ever. Despite an upturn in consumption, the grain carry-over at the end of 2016/17 would be a record 474 million tonnes, up 6 million tonnes from 2015/16, the current record.
U.S. heads for record corn crop, price to fall for fourth year
Corn farmers are within reach of the largest U.S. crop ever grown, topping the 2014 record by more than 200 million bushels, USDA said in its first projections of the fall harvest.
Crop tour sees big rebound in Kansas wheat output
April showers revived the winter wheat crop across Kansas, so the harvest may be one of the best ever, said crop scouts after a three-day assessment of conditions. They forecast a harvest of 382 million bushels, up 19 percent from 2015, said Bloomberg.
Kansas wheat tour the first step in crop-forecasting frenzy
Seven dozen crop scouts are to begin a hectic three-day motorized sprint across Kansas today, with the goal to sample roughly 500 fields and produce an estimate of the crop in the nation's No. 1 winter wheat state. Their estimate, expected at midday Thursday, will be the first in a shower of crop forecasts that will run through the fall harvest.