WASHINGTON — Cooler than average summer months but a warmer spring kept the 2018 corn harvest just 1 percent below last year’s record harvest. The nation’s soybean yield was up 5 percent from 2017, with planted area down 1 percent from record 2017 acreage, according to the Crop Production 2018 Summary released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
U.S. corn growers produced 14.4 billion bushels, down 1 percent from 2017. Corn yield in the U.S. is estimated at 176.4 bushels per acre, 0.2 bushel below the 2017 record yield of 176.6 bushels per acre. Area harvested, at 81.7 million acres, is down 1 percent from 2017. The 2018 corn objective yield data indicate the highest number of ears per acre on record for the combined 10 objective yield States (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin).
Soybean production for 2018 totaled a record 4.54 billion bushels, up 3 percent from 2017. With record high yields in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, New York, and Ohio, the average soybean yield is estimated at 51.6 bushels per acre, 2.3 bushels above 2017, but 0.3 bushel below the record yield of 2016.
For 2018, all cotton production is down 12 percent from 2017, at 18.4 million 480-pound bales. The U.S. yield is estimated at 838 pounds per acre, down 67 pounds from last year’s yield. Harvested area, at 10.5 million acres, is down 5 percent from last year.
Sorghum grain production in 2018 is estimated at 365 million bushels, up 1 percent from 2017. Area planted for sorghum, at 5.69 million acres, up 1 percent from the previous year. Harvested area, at 5.06 million acres, is up less than 1 percent from 2017. Grain yield is estimated at 72.1 bushels per acre, up 0.4 bushel from last year. A record high yield was estimated in Illinois.
Also released were the Winter Wheat and Canola Seedings and Grain Stocks reports. The Winter Wheat Seedings report is the first indicator of this year’s winter wheat acreage. Planted area for harvest in 2019 is estimated at 31.3 million acres, down 4 percent from 2018.
In the Grain Stocks report, corn stocks were estimated to be down 5 percent from December 1, 2017. Soybean stocks are up 18 percent from that time. Corn stored in all positions totaled 12.0 billion bushels, while soybeans totaled 3.74 billion bushels. All wheat stocks were up 7 percent from last year. All wheat stored in all positions totaled 2.00 billion bushels.
The full Crop Production 2018 Summary is available online at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications. The report contains year-end acreage, yield and production estimates for grains and hay; oilseeds; cotton, tobacco and sugar; dry beans, peas and lentils; and potatoes and miscellaneous crops.
The Crop Production report is published monthly and is available online at https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Reports_by_Release_Day/index.php.
For updates on recently rescheduled report releases, visit
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/Notices/index.php
–USDA NASS
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