Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

To the surprise of producers, grain traders, and market analysists, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service on Friday increased forecast production levels for both U.S. corn and soybean crops from previous estimates. If realized, the U.S. soybean crop would be the largest on record, while the corn crop would be the second-largest.  

Projections for Nebraska were mixed. The state’s average corn yield was bumped higher to 188 bushels per acre from September’s forecast of 177 bushels. Production was forecast at slightly more than 1.8 billion bushels compared to an earlier forecast of 1.7 billion. Last year’s production was just over 2.0 billion bushels and the average yield was 194 bushels per acre.

Nebraska’s average soybean yield, on the other hand, was reduced to 59 bushels per acre from September’s forecast of 60 bushels. Last year’s average yield was 65.5 bushels per acre. Total production was forecast at 312 million bushels, slightly less than last year’s 314 million bushels. Earlier forecasts had pegged production at 317 million bushels.