The latest Wisconsin USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Crop Production report was released today. This is the USDA report that traders were anxiously waiting for all month. The forecasts in the report are based on August 1 conditions and do not reflect weather effects since that time.
According, to the report in Wisconsin the corn production is forecast at 531 million. If realized, this will be Wisconsin’s second largest corn production, trailing only 2016’s 573 million bushels. Based on conditions as of August 1, yields are expected to average 177 bushels per acre, an increase of 3.0 bushels per acre from last year. An estimated 3.00 million acres will be harvested for grain.
Then the Wisconsin soybean production is forecast at 115 million bushels, up 13.9 million from last year. The yield is forecast at 50.0 bushels per acre, 3.0 bushels above 2017. Soybean planted acreage is estimated at 2.30 million acres with 2.29 million acres to be harvested. If realized, this will set a new harvested acres record, 150,000 acres above the previous record set last year.
Winter wheat production is forecast at 14.1 million bushels, up 2.52 million bushels from 2017. Yields are expected to average 64.0 bushels per acre, down 4.0 bushels from both the July forecast and last year. An estimated 220,000 acres will be harvested for grain.
Oat production is forecast at 6.50 million bushels, up 1.49 million bushels from 2017. The yield is forecast at 65.0 bushels per acre, down 12 bushels from July but up 6 bushels from 2017. An estimated 100,000 acres will be harvested for grain.
Lastly, Wisconsin hay yield for alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures is forecast at 3.20 tons per acre, with a total production of 2.91 million tons, up 332,000 tons from 2017. The forecasted yield for other hay is 1.50 tons per acre, with a production of 585,000 tons.
Even though we see modest gains in the production of crops in Wisconsin the U.S. overall saw, corn production is forecast at 14.6 billion bushels, down less than 1 percent from last year. Corn yields are expected to average 178.4 bushels per acre, up 1.8 bushels from 2017. If realized, this will be the highest yield on record for the United States. Area harvested for grain is forecast at 81.8 million acres, unchanged from the June forecast, but down 1 percent from 2017.
Soybean production in the U.S. is forecast at 4.59 billion bushels, up 4 percent from last year. Based on conditions as of August 1, yields are expected to average 51.6 bushels per acre, up 2.5 bushels from last year. Area for harvest in the United States is forecast at 88.9 million acres, unchanged from the June forecast, but down 1 percent from 2017.
Then Winter wheat production is forecast at 1.19 billion bushels, down less than 1 percent from the July forecast and down 6 percent from 2017. As of August 1, the United States yield is forecast at 47.9 bushels per acre, down 0.1 bushel from last month and down 2.3 bushels from last year’s average yield of 50.2 bushels per acre. The area expected to be harvested for grain totals 24.8 million acres, down slightly from last month and down 2 percent from last year.
The complete report can be found under Publications on the USDA NASS website at www.nass.usda.gov. The next crop production forecasts, based on conditions as of September 1, will be released on September 12.