Heat In Eastern Corn Belt Sets Record
Despite lower production overall, warmer temperatures in the north could help yields in Friday's USDA report.
Bryce Knorr
Published: Sep 7, 2010
One of the biggest questions traders have in 2010 is just how big this year's corn crop will be. USDA updates produc-tion estimates on Sept. 10, and most believe the agency will trim its forecast of production.
Farm Futures has cut its estimate of yield to 163 bpa nationwide, with production at 13.2 billion bushels. While crop ratings showed only a slight decline in August, yields in the eastern Corn Belt could drop due to warm summer tem-peratures.
Cooling degree readings collected through Aug. 31 shows temperatures at the highest level in the eastern states since at least 1992, when the data series began. While adding this factor to our yield model did not improve statistically accu-racy a lot, it did lower the total production level for the country.
But the effects of the warm summer may not have been all negative, especially in some northern areas, where heat could actually increase yield potential, offsetting at least some of the losses elsewhere.
For state-by-state charts from the U.S. and Midwest, click the link below.
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Tagged: farm, usda, farm futures, Corn Belt, corn crop
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