The USDA recently issued its forecasts for US grain crop yield and production for this year. 2024 looks to be a good year, with records or near-records in average yield and production.
Corn:
Average yield at 183.1 bushels per acre, a record high.
Total production of 15.1 billion bushels. This is down slightly from 2023, as fewer acres were planted this year. Still, 15.1 billion bushels is quite respectable.
Soybeans:
Average yield of 53.2 bushels per acre.
Total production of 4.59 billion bushels. Both yield and production are at all-time highs.
Wheat:
All wheat production at 1.98 billion bushels. This is the most production since 2016.
Winter wheat and Spring wheat yields look to be good, at 53.2 and 52.6 bushels per acre respectively.
Since we are most of the way through the growing season, I don’t anticipate these numbers to change by a large amount, by the time the harvest is done later this autumn. But I’m sure there will be some fine-tuning to these estimates next month, and in October.
If you are interested, more information on these and other field crops can be found here.
_Pete