USDA slightly lowers prediction for Nebraska corn crop, raises forecast for soybeans

USDA lowers prediction for Nebraska corn crop

LINCOLN, Neb. — An even bigger bin-busting crop of soybeans is expected this fall, according to a federal report released Friday, but forecasters trimmed their predictions for Nebraska corn farmers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture report said Nebraska farmers were expected to bring in 1.53 billion bushels of corn, based on Sept. 1 conditions. That’s 1 percent under the USDA’s Aug. 1 prediction and 3 percent below last year.

A record corn yield of 179 bushels an acre was still forecast, but that’s a bushel under the Aug. 1 figure. Acres to be harvested for grain was down 3 percent from Sept. 1, 2009.

For soybeans, the USDA raised its estimate for a record Nebraska crop to 294 million bushels, compared with the 284 million bushels in the Aug. 1 forecast.

Yield was forecast at 55 bushels an acre, which is a half bushel higher than the record set last year. Harvest acreage was up 12 percent from a year ago.

The sorghum forecast was unchanged from August at 6.1 million bushels, which is down 53 percent from last year. The expected yield: 94 bushels an acre, down a bushel from 2009.

The USDA said Nebraska farmers were expected to harvest 65,000 acres of sorghum, which is less than half the 2009 acreage.

For sugar beets, the USDA trimmed its forecast to 1.05 million tons. That’s 6 percent less than the Aug. 1 forecast and 19 percent under last year. The yield was forecast at 22 tons an acre, down 2.6 tons from 2009.

Online:

USDA: www.nass.usda.gov