USDA Raises Soybean Crop Grade, Maintains High Grade for Corn in US

The U.S. Department of Agriculture upgraded the nation’s soybean crop to “good” and “excellent” in a weekly report Monday and left its corn crop rating unchanged, surprising analysts who had expected a slight decline.

The historically high ratings have helped fuel expectations for a record corn harvest and a big soybean crop this fall after generally favorable summer weather across much of the Midwest farm belt.

Last week, Pro Farmer’s annual crop review identified plant diseases that could reduce yields, while recent dry weather has also raised concerns about crop stress.

“Those two factors are hard to quantify until the combine is running,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodity economist at StoneX.

As of Aug. 24, the USDA rated 71% of the corn crop as good or excellent, consistent with the previous week. Analysts had expected 70%, according to a Reuters poll.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its soybean crop grade to 69% (good-excellent) from 68% a week earlier, rather than downgrading to 67% as analysts had forecast.

The corn crop grade was the highest for this time of year since 2016. The soybean crop grade was the highest since 2020.

The agency rated spring wheat at 4.9% in good-excellent condition, down from 50% a week ago. Analysts had not expected a change. Spring wheat harvest is 53% complete, up from 36% a week ago.

Tags: corn, soybean, USA, crop forecast