Is There a Chance for Crop Prices to Rise?

By the time USDA released its August 10th report, a large portion of the U.S. had already suffered under several days of 95 plus degree weather. Crop conditions tend to deteriorate under these conditions, and several of the hot days are not reflected in the August 10th report. Corn production is forecast at 9.27 billion bushels, which is down seven percent from last year. Remember, these crop conditions are based on an August 1 date, and will not have the impact of the later days of hot weather in them. Based on the conditions of August 1, yields are now expected to average 133.9 bushels per acre. If this prediction remains true, this would be the lowest production since 1997. Because of delayed and replanted acres the August report had a revised acreage report included. Farmers are now expected to harvest 69.2 million acres of corn, which is down 100,000 acres from the June report, which is also down five percent from last year