Compared to 2012, inventories of corn and soybeans have dropped significantly as of Sept. 1, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported today.

There were 824 million bushels of old crop corn and 141 million bushels of old crop soybeans in storage. Corn and soybean stocks stored in all positions were down 17 percent from 2012, according to the quarterly Grain Stocks report.

On Sept. 1, there were 275 million bushels of corn stored on farms and 549 million bushels stored off the farm, down 12 and 19% from the prior year, respectively. The U.S. corn disappearance totaled 1.94 billion bushels during June-August, down from 2.16 billion bushels during the same period last year.

NASS reported that as of Sept.1, there were 39.6 million bushels of soybeans stored on the farm, up 3% from 2012, and 101 million bushels stored off the farm, down 23% from last September. The U.S. soybean disappearance during June-August totaled 294 million bushels, down 41% from the same period last year.

In addition to releasing the Grain Stocks report, NASS also released the Small Grains 2013 Summary, which included the final tallies for U.S. wheat, oats and other small grains. According to the report, in 2013 U.S. small grain farmers in some parts of the country were challenged with adverse weather conditions causing delays in planting and harvesting.

NASS reported growers harvested 45.2 million acres of wheat this year, down 8% from 2012. The levels of production and changes from 2012 by type are winter wheat, 1.53 billion bushels, down 7%; other spring wheat, 532 million bushels, down 2%; and Durum wheat, 61.5 million bushels, down 26%.

Oat production is estimated at 66.0 million bushels, up 3%  from 2012 but the third-lowest production on record, according to NASS. Harvested area, at 1.03 million acres, is slightly below last year and is the second-lowest acreage harvested for grain on record.

Due to delays in this year’s harvest, NASS will re-survey small grain growers in Montana and North Dakota. Operators will be asked to verify and update, if necessary, the acreage, yield, production and stock estimates for barley, oats, Durum wheat and other spring wheat.

When producers were surveyed earlier this month, there was significant unharvested acreage in these two states. As a result of this re-surveying effort, NASS may release updated estimates for small grains in its Nov. 8 Crop Production report.

All NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.