August 28, 2006

Pro Farmer pegs 2006/07 US corn crop at 10.862 billion bushels

Professional Farmers of America on Friday (Aug 25) estimated the 2006/07 US corn crop at 10.862 billion bushels and the US soybean crop at 3.023 billion bushels.

The organisation, known as Pro Farmer, sees the US corn yield at 151.5 bushels per acre, with the soy yield at 40.9 bushels per acre.

This compares to the US Department of Agriculture's projection of a 2006/07 corn crop of 10.975 billion bushels, based on an average yield of 152.2 bushels/acre, in its Aug 11 report. The USDA pegged the 2006/07 soybean crop at 2.927 billion bushels, with an average yield of 39.6 bushels/acre.

The Pro Farmer 2006/07 corn and soybean estimates released Friday are in no way associated with the John Deere/Pro Farmer Midwest crop tour or its participants. Pro Farmer said tour data was one of the factors taken into account, "but there is not a mutually exclusive correlation between tour data and the Pro Farmer crop estimates."

In 2005, Pro Farmer estimated the corn crop at 10.162 billion bushels, while soybeans were pegged at 2.783 billion. Average yields for 2005, as calculated by the group, were 136.6 bushels/acre for corn and 38.5 for soybeans.

Pro Farmer said it sees a plus or minus 1 percent shift in final corn production, where the margin for beans is seen at 2 percent.