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Aug. 12, 2010 -According to reports released this morning by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), America's farmers are on track to produce a record corn crop and record yield per acre in 2010, eclipsing previous records established in 2009. Today's reports confirmed once again that grain supplies will be large enough to satisfy growing demand for food, feed, and fuel.
This morning's USDA reports revealed that corn producers are expected to harvest a record crop of 13.37 billion bushels, two percent larger than the previous record set in 2009. USDA also is projecting a record yield of 165 bushels per acre, slightly above last year's previous record of 164.7 bushels per acre. The RFA’s vice president of research Geoff Cooper said the record yield effectively demonstrates that US farmers can meet increasing demands without needing to expand acreage.
Cooper notes, "This will be the third 13 billion bushel crop on record and it's worth noting that this year's crop will be produced on nearly 6 million fewer acres than the first 13 billion bushel crop just three years ago. Once again, today's report further undermines the theory that US farmers will need to convert non-agricultural land to cropland to keep up with increasing demand. The rapid adoption of new technologies and practices is allowing the nation's farmers to continue to produce more grain on fewer acres."
Also of note, this year's crop will be twice as large as the corn crop produced 30 years ago in 1980, but it will require only 4.6 percent more acres.
USDA's supply-demand report projects that 4.7 billion bushels of corn will be processed into ethanol in the 2010/11 marketing year, implying that 13 billion gallons of ethanol will be produced.
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