USDA is predicting a record corn crop of 14.4 billion bushels this year. According to USDA’s latest projection, “World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates,” this year’s crop would be 214 million bushels above the previous record in 2014, and 829 million bushels above last year.
The average yield is projected at 168 bushels per acre, down 0.4 bushels per acres from 2015-16. This lower yield per acre is offset by an increase of 5.6 million acres in estimated plantings. U.S. corn use for 2016-17 is projected to reach a record 14.1 billion bushels with exports projected at 1.9 billion bushels, up from 1.725 billion bushels.
Soybean production is projected at 3.8 billion bushels which is 129 million bushels lower than 2015. This is the result of lower acres and trend yields. Wheat production is projected at 1.998 billion bushels which is down 3% from last year. This is primarily due to a decrease in planted acres.
