USDA issued the crop progress report yesterday, but interpreting any meaning from it is almost impossible under current conditions because the baseline of intended planting has changed. Consider, 1 March planting intentions had indicated there would be 92.8 million acres of corn this year. That represents 104 percent of last year and the largest acreage since 2016. Yesterday’s report, which surveyed the 9-16 June planting activity, showed 92 percent of the acres had been planted overall (in the top 18 states), up 11 percent for the week. Big gains were made in states that were the furthest behind, but there is more to the story. These were also the states where the crop insurance planting date had elapsed.
Indeed, the reason those...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
