Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Weekly Outlook - Questions about Corn Acreage

The pace of consumption of U.S. corn has been slowing, as evidenced by small weekly exports and export sales, smaller weekly estimates of ethanol production, declining cattle feedlot placements, and increased slaughter of dairy cows and the hog breeding herd. The extent of rationing required in the current marketing year that has just begun, however, is still not clear since the size of the 2012 crop is not yet known.

The average U.S. corn yield will obviously be the most important factor in determining crop size, but the magnitude of acreage harvested for grain will also influence crop size. The likely magnitude of harvested acreage starts with the magnitude of planted acres. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) June Acreage report estimated corn acreage planted for all purposes this year at 96.4 million acres. History suggests that the final acreage estimate will deviate, at least slightly, from this estimate. In the previous 10 years, for example, the final estimate of planted acres deviated by as little as 37,000 to as much as 1.345 million acres from the June estimate.  <Read More> 

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