Posted Aug. 10, 2012

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today lowered its projections for this fall’s corn and soybean harvest.

 

The AugustCrop Production Report says severe to extreme drought conditions over a wide area of the Cornbelt will greatly diminish this year’s harvest.

In Iowa, USDA projects corn yield per acre to be down from 172 bushels in 2011 to 141 bushels per acre this year.If realized, the yield will be the lowest since 1997. Production is forecast at 1.918 billion bushels, 19 percent less than last year.

The report predicted total corn production at 10.8 billion bushels with an average U.S. yield of 123.4 bushels per acre.

Soybeans have fared better in the hot, dry conditions and projections are more favorable.

The report shows forecasted yields in Iowa of 43 bushels an acre. That’s down 7.5 bushels from 2011. Soybean production would be 406 million bushels, 60 million bushels less than a year ago.

Total U.S. soybean production is expected to be nearly 2.7 billion bushels, down from 3 billion last year.