The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released a crop production update, explaining the crop assembly results from the October forecast.
The report revealed that corn production was down slightly from the October forecast, soybean and cotton production was up less than 1 percent, and orange production was unchanged.
Corn production is forecast at 14.4 billion bushels, which is down slightly from the previous forecast. However, this is up 3 percent from 2013. Based on conditions as of November 1, yields are expected to average 173.4 bushels per acre. This is down 0.8 bushel from the previous forecast but 14.6 bushels above the 2013 average. If reached, this could be the highest yield and production on record for the United States. Area harvested for grain is forecast at 83.1 million acres, which is unchanged from the previous forecast but down 5 percent from 2013.
Soybean production is forecast at a record 3.96 billion bushels, up less than 1 percent from October and up 18 percent from last year. Based on November 1 conditions, yields are expected to average a record high 47.5 bushels per acre, up 0.4 bushel from last month and up 3.5 bushels from last year. Area for harvest in the United States is forecast at a record 83.4 million acres, unchanged from last month.
All cotton production is forecast at 16.4 million 480-pound bales, which is up less than 1 percent from last month and 27 percent from last year. Yield is expected to average 797 pounds per harvested acre, which is down 24 pounds from last year. Upland cotton production is forecast at 15.8 million 480-pound bales, up 29 percent from 2013. Pima cotton production is forecast at 578,000 bales and was carried forward from last month.
The United States all orange forecast for the 2014-2015 season is 6.96 million tons, unchanged from the previous forecast. However, it is up 3 percent from the 2013 to 2014 final utilization. The Florida all orange forecast, at 108 million boxes or 4.86 million tons, is up 3 percent from last season’s final utilization. The early, midseason, and Navel varieties in Florida are forecast at 52.0 million boxes or 2.34 million tons, which is down 2 percent from last season’s final utilization. The Florida Valencia orange forecast, at 56.0 million boxes or 2.52 million tons, is up 9 percent from last season’s final utilization. While citrus growing conditions were ideal in Florida from the beginning of the citrus bloom to the start of the 2014 to 2015 season harvest, Arizona, California, and Texas forecasts are carried forward from October.
An Agri-Pulse article notes that while the USDA lowers its corn production forecast and slightly raises the estimated soybean production, both commodities are still projected to be the largest production in history.