crop size
One-third of cropland shift to corn was in the Dakotas
U.S. corn plantings grew 10 percent in the past decade, driven by the commodity boom that began in 2006. Economist Gary Schnitkey says the expansion occurred mostly in the western Corn Belt, with North Dakota and South Dakota accounting for one-third of the increased U.S. acreage of 7.9 million acres.
The crop report outlook: crops get bigger, so do surpluses
High corn and soybean yields will bring bumper crops, traders said in anticipation of the USDA Crop Production and WASDE reports to be issued today. In surveys by Bloomberg and Reuters, analysts said the fall harvest will be bigger than thought a month ago, which will fatten U.S. inventories and hold down commodity prices for months to come.
In rebound from El Niño, world heads for record rice crop
Rice growers around the world are planting more land to rice this year, an additional 2.8 million hectares that the USDA estimates will result in a record harvest of 480.7 million tonnes, 10 million tonnes larger than last year. "The global area expansion is largely due to few economically viable alternative planting options, producer support programs in several Asian countries and a desire by many countries to rebuild stocks after El Niño reduced production in 2015/16," said the monthly Rice Outlook report.
Sugar beet growers unfazed by GMO debate, record crop expected
At the same time sugar cane production ends in Hawaii, the USDA forecasts a record harvest next year of sugar beets, grown in the upper Midwest and the West and the dominant U.S. source of sugar, reported Reuters. "The estimate indicates that beet farmers are remaining resolute even as food manufacturers shun GMO crops like their beet sugar."
Massive corn crop, lowest market price in 10 years
If they take their cues from recent changes in the futures markets, U.S. farmers will plant slightly more soybeans and correspondingly less corn, says the think tank Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.
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.
Harvest-time rain cuts Argentine soy crop 15 percent
The Argentine weather agency says the late-season rains that swamped the soybean harvest have reduced the crop by 9 million tonnes, or 15 percent, said Reuters.
Low prices pull down U.S. crop plantings
Farmers say they'll plant the third-largest amount of corn grown since World War II and the third-highest soybean area on record, superlatives that disguise some of the bad news in the annual Prospective Plantings report.
India to repeat as top cotton grower as China limits crop
Global cotton production will increase 4 percent this year, led by larger crops in India and the United States while China tries to whittle down its massive stockpile, said the International Cotton Advisory Council.
Look for smallest U.S. sorghum crop in four years, says KSU
After a three-year surge in exports that boosted the popularity of sorghum, demand is forecast to fall and the feed grain is headed for the smallest harvest since 2012, says economist Dan O'Brien of Kansas State U.
Big increase planned in biggest U.S. rice state
Growers plan a 20-percent increase in rice plantings this year in Arkansas, the state that often grows half of the U.S. rice crop, says U-Arkansas.
Pinched by El Niño, global rice crop is smallest in four years
Rice farmers curtailed plantings by nearly 2 percent in the face of dry weather caused by the El Niño weather pattern, leading to the smallest world rice crop in four years.
Marginally smaller global wheat crop after 2015 record
Wheat farmers around the world are forecast to reap a crop of 723 million tonnes this year, down 10 million tonnes, or 1.4 percent, from the record harvest of 2015, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in its first forecast of 2016 crops.
Modest increase in world cotton crop likely
"Poor returns for competing crops and relatively stable cotton prices may encourage farmers to plant more cotton" this crop year and boost production 3 percent, to 23 million tonnes, from the 2015/16 level, according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee.
Wheat crop smaller than thought, so is soybean stockpile
In one of its final looks at this year's wheat crop, the USDA said the harvest totaled 2.052 billion bushels, 4-percent smaller than its previous estimate.
Soy crop is second-largest ever, analysts say
Farmers planted slightly more land to soybeans than they planned in June, analysts said ahead of a USDA report that will provide the best evidence yet of this year's crops. In surveys by Reuters and Bloomberg, analysts forecast soybean plantings at a record 85.3 million acres, up 1 percent from the USDA's March survey of intentions and 2-percent more than the mark set last year.
On-farm grain storage declines as share of U.S. total
More than a decade ago, farmers began building more grain bins for on-farm storage, says economist David Widmar. On-farm storage gives growers more flexibility in terms of when to sell their grain.
Soybean inventory to balloon, corn stocks to contract a bit
The second mammoth soybean crop in two years will swell U.S. supply to its largest size in nine years, says the Agriculture Department in updated projections for this year's crops. The soybean stockpile, forecast for 385 million bushels when this year's crop is mature, is expected to grow by 12 percent, to 430 million bushels, by Sept. 1, 2016, despite record soybean exports, says the USDA. On the final day of its annual Outlook Forum, it projected...