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Drought to Blame As Nation's Corn Crop Down 10 Percent

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Sep. 13--Nebraska's corn harvest is expected to be second in size only to last year's crop, but national crop estimates are 10 percent lower than last year largely due to drought in states such as Illinois.

Corn production in Nebraska is pegged at about 1.296 billion bushels, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's September crop report. Nebraska farmers will produce about 2.37 million bushels fewer than last year.

The USDA expects yields to average 156 bushels an acre, down 10 bushels per acre from 2004.

Among the four-largest corn-producing states -- Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota -- Nebraska and Minnesota largely matched last year's numbers while Illinois is projected to come in 346.3 million bushels below last year. Iowa's crop, projected at just under 2.14 billion bushels, will be 106.5 million bushels less than in 2004.

Nationally, the corn crop will be about 10 percent smaller than last year's record crop. But the anticipated harvest of 10.63 billion bushels still is good enough to be the second-largest crop in history.

The corn crop estimate was larger than expected, which prompted a decline in December futures contracts of 4.5 cents to below $2.12 a bushel. Futures contracts traded above $2.17 last week.

Iowa and Illinois also took hits in soybean production. Iowa's soybean crop, projected at 452 million bushels, is down about 45 million bushels from last year. Illinois' crop is down 104.3 million bushels.

In Nebraska, the crop is projected at 217.8 million bushels, down about 3 million bushels. Yields in Nebraska are expected to average 44 bushels an acre, down about 2.5 bushels from last year.

November and January soybean futures also fell 5 cents and 5.25 cents, respectively, in trading in Chicago.

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Source: Omaha World-Herald

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