Sep 30, 2020
2020 U.S. Corn 15% Harvested, Soybeans 20% Harvested
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
2020 U.S. Corn - The condition of the 2020 U.S. corn crop held steady at 61% rated good to excellent. The corn is 75% mature compared to 39% last year and 65% average. The corn is 15% harvested compared to 10% last year and 16% average. The weather last week was very good for corn dry down. The forecast for this week is cooler and wetter, but improved weather is forecasted for next week. The corn harvest should proceed at a normal pace and unless the weather takes a drastic turn for the worst, the corn harvest should wrap up in a timely fashion.
Corn yield reports seem to be mixed with many of the better yields coming from states such as Minnesota which has had generally good weather all summer. The disappointing yields seem to be coming from the dry areas of Iowa and the western Corn Belt. Judging early yield reports is a tricky endeavor because you never know is more vocal, those farmers with disappointing yields or those with the better yields.
I still feel the USDA will trim their corn yield and harvested acreage in the October Crop Report, so I left the corn yield at 176.0 bu/ac and the corn harvested acreage at 83.4 million acres.
2020 U.S. Soybeans - The condition of the 2020 U. S. soybean crop improved 1% to 65% rated good to excellent. The soybeans are 74% dropping leaves compared to 49% last year and 69% average. The soybeans are 20% harvested compared to 6% last year and 15% average.
The weather was very good last week for soybean maturity and the early harvest. Soybean yield reports are following the same pattern as the corn, good yields in areas where the weather was beneficial and lower yields from the dryer areas. The earlier planted soybeans seem to be doing better than the later planted soybeans because they were further along in the pod filling process before the dry weather took hold in August.
There seems to be a lot of uneven ripening of the soybeans this year. There are reports of the pods being ready to harvest, but the stems are still green. Other reports indicate that some of the pods are mature and ready for harvest while other pods on the same plant are still green with green soybeans inside. The reason for this is unclear at this point.
I think the USDA will also trim their soybean yield slightly in the October Crop Report and they might trim the soybean harvested acreage slightly as well. Therefore, I left my soybean yield unchanged at 50.0 bu/ac and the soybean harvested acreage at 83.02 million acres.