By Reuters
September 12, 2025
An ear of corn from a field in Wyoming, Iowa. Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Charlie Neibergall/AP)
CHICAGO — U.S. farmers will harvest the most acres of corn since 1933 and produce more of the grain than previously expected, even though crop yields will miss earlier forecasts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday.
The agency further increased its estimate for how many acres will be harvested in a monthly supply and demand report, after surprising grain traders with a large acreage increase in August.
The production increase kept a lid on benchmark corn prices on the Chicago Board of Trade Cv1.
“It didn’t matter that USDA reduced the corn yield, because of the amount of corn acreage they found,” said Susan Stroud, founder and analyst at No Bull Agriculture.
Grain supplies were set to swell due to the large harvest, benefiting livestock producers that use the crop for feed and ethanol manufacturers.
But grain farmers have struggled with low crop prices and rising costs for inputs such as fertilizer and seeds. Cash receipts for U.S. crops have been forecast to fall for a third straight year to the lowest level since 2007, when adjusted for inflation.
The USDA raised its 2025 U.S. corn production estimate to a record 16.814 billion bushels. It projected a record average yield of 186.7 bushels per acre, down from 188.8 bushels per acre in August. Both figures were above analysts’ expectations.
Favorable crop weather for much of the summer growing season boosted yield prospects until pockets of disease and dry late-season weather clipped potential, analysts said.
End-of-season U.S. corn stocks for the 2025/26 marketing year were projected at 2.11 billion bushels, down slightly from the USDA’s forecast a month earlier as record-large U.S. exports were seen absorbing more of the crop. Still, the supply outlook was the largest since the 2018/19 season, according to USDA data.
For soybeans, the USDA projected U.S. yield at a slightly higher-than-expected 53.5 bushels per acre, compared with 53.6 bushels in August. It pegged production at 4.301 billion bushels, up from 4.292 billion bushels a month earlier as the agency increased harvested acres.
The agency raised its U.S. soybean ending stocks forecast by 10 million bushels after cutting its export projection to the lowest since a U.S. trade war with top-importer China during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Export sales have slumped again due to a renewed trade dispute with Beijing, which has not yet booked any new-crop purchases from the United States.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago. Additional reporting by PJ Huffstutter in Chicago.Editing by Marguerita Choy)
CHICAGO — U.S. farmers will harvest the most acres of corn since 1933 and produce more of the grain than previously expected, even though crop yields will miss earlier forecasts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday.
The agency further increased its estimate for how many acres will be harvested in a monthly supply and demand report, after surprising grain traders with a large acreage increase in August.
The production increase kept a lid on benchmark corn prices on the Chicago Board of Trade Cv1.
“It didn’t matter that USDA reduced the corn yield, because of the amount of corn acreage they found,” said Susan Stroud, founder and analyst at No Bull Agriculture.
Grain supplies were set to swell due to the large harvest, benefiting livestock producers that use the crop for feed and ethanol manufacturers.
But grain farmers have struggled with low crop prices and rising costs for inputs such as fertilizer and seeds. Cash receipts for U.S. crops have been forecast to fall for a third straight year to the lowest level since 2007, when adjusted for inflation.
The USDA raised its 2025 U.S. corn production estimate to a record 16.814 billion bushels. It projected a record average yield of 186.7 bushels per acre, down from 188.8 bushels per acre in August. Both figures were above analysts’ expectations.
Favorable crop weather for much of the summer growing season boosted yield prospects until pockets of disease and dry late-season weather clipped potential, analysts said.
End-of-season U.S. corn stocks for the 2025/26 marketing year were projected at 2.11 billion bushels, down slightly from the USDA’s forecast a month earlier as record-large U.S. exports were seen absorbing more of the crop. Still, the supply outlook was the largest since the 2018/19 season, according to USDA data.
For soybeans, the USDA projected U.S. yield at a slightly higher-than-expected 53.5 bushels per acre, compared with 53.6 bushels in August. It pegged production at 4.301 billion bushels, up from 4.292 billion bushels a month earlier as the agency increased harvested acres.
The agency raised its U.S. soybean ending stocks forecast by 10 million bushels after cutting its export projection to the lowest since a U.S. trade war with top-importer China during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Export sales have slumped again due to a renewed trade dispute with Beijing, which has not yet booked any new-crop purchases from the United States.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago. Additional reporting by PJ Huffstutter in Chicago.Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Corn diseases lurk in bumper U.S. crop, threatening yields
By Reuters
September 12, 2025
This is a cornfield in Mill Hill, Pa., on Aug. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
CHICAGO — High levels of fungal disease are lurking in corn fields across the U.S. Midwest, threatening to reduce yields of a record-large crop and cause headaches for farmers during the autumn harvest, growers and crop experts said.
The outbreaks are a blow to farmers in the world’s biggest corn-producing country as they struggle to make money due to low grain prices and rising costs for fertilizer, seed and other inputs. Farmers had hoped to produce the biggest possible yields to offset low prices, and crop diseases put that plan at risk.
“I’ve never seen disease as severe as I’ve seen this year,” Iowa State University plant pathologist Alison Robertson said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected in August that farmers would produce a record-breaking yield of 188.8 bushels per acre. However, most analysts in a Reuters survey expect the government to lower its estimate in a monthly report on Friday, due partly to disease. Their estimate for a yield of 186.2 bushels per acre would still set a record and produce ample supplies.
The main culprit is southern rust, which blows northward from tropical regions and can reduce yields by up to 45 per cent, according to the Crop Protection Network, a consortium of university experts.
The disease often reaches the Midwest in August, too late to impact output much. This year, it arrived by mid-July in Iowa, the biggest corn-producing state, leaving plenty of time to wreak havoc. It was the state’s second-wettest July on record, which created favorable conditions for fungus to spread.
“We kind of had the perfect storm” for rust, Robertson said.
Participants on a tour of Midwestern farms came face to face with outbreaks last month. After trekking into fields, they emerged with rust-colored dust covering their sleeves.
CHICAGO — High levels of fungal disease are lurking in corn fields across the U.S. Midwest, threatening to reduce yields of a record-large crop and cause headaches for farmers during the autumn harvest, growers and crop experts said.
The outbreaks are a blow to farmers in the world’s biggest corn-producing country as they struggle to make money due to low grain prices and rising costs for fertilizer, seed and other inputs. Farmers had hoped to produce the biggest possible yields to offset low prices, and crop diseases put that plan at risk.
“I’ve never seen disease as severe as I’ve seen this year,” Iowa State University plant pathologist Alison Robertson said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected in August that farmers would produce a record-breaking yield of 188.8 bushels per acre. However, most analysts in a Reuters survey expect the government to lower its estimate in a monthly report on Friday, due partly to disease. Their estimate for a yield of 186.2 bushels per acre would still set a record and produce ample supplies.
The main culprit is southern rust, which blows northward from tropical regions and can reduce yields by up to 45 per cent, according to the Crop Protection Network, a consortium of university experts.
The disease often reaches the Midwest in August, too late to impact output much. This year, it arrived by mid-July in Iowa, the biggest corn-producing state, leaving plenty of time to wreak havoc. It was the state’s second-wettest July on record, which created favorable conditions for fungus to spread.
“We kind of had the perfect storm” for rust, Robertson said.
Participants on a tour of Midwestern farms came face to face with outbreaks last month. After trekking into fields, they emerged with rust-colored dust covering their sleeves.
DISEASES ATTACK CORN LEAVES
Another disease, tar spot, was also widely detected.
Both fungal diseases attack corn leaves and interfere with photosynthesis. In corn plants, the process converts sunlight and water into sugars needed to produce grain. Infected corn plants often produce smaller kernels, reducing yields.
Fungicides can mitigate the damage, and many farmers applied them this summer. But applications cost money at a time when some growers can hardly cover their production costs.
In southwest Iowa, farmer Roger Cerven said southern rust was so bad that he feared losses of 30 bushels an acre even on fields he sprayed.
“The fungicide was a Band-Aid, and we needed a tourniquet,” Cerven said.
The full extent of yield losses won’t be known until farmers bring crops in from the fields.
Some growers already started harvesting in areas where disease prompted plants to stop growing and turn brown prematurely, said Brent Judisch, a farmer in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Harvesting may be difficult, as infected plants tend to cannibalize their stalks and roots for sugars needed to fill kernels. The resulting hollowed-out stalks are prone to falling over.
“Imagine driving through a pile of Pick-Up Sticks, trying to harvest all the corn,” Robertson said. “It’s just a nightmare.”
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen. Editing by Tom Polansek and David Gregorio)
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