Feed Outlook, October 2019

The third survey-based estimate for the 2019/20 corn crop lowered harvested acres by 200,000 and raised yield 0.2-bushel per acre, lowering the crop projection by 19.8 million bushels this month. However, supplies declined 350.8 million bushels due to lower carryin, reaching 15,944 million bushels. On the demand side, an increase in feed and residual partially offsets decreases in exports and food, seed and industrial (FSI) use, for a net 90-million-bushel decline in total use to 14,015 million bushels. Tightening supplies and observed prices to date caused the projected average for the season average price received by farmers to gain $0.20 per bushel to $3.80.

 

The slow pace of U.S. corn sales and shipments in recent months reveal the country’s weak price competitiveness relative to other major corn exporters. U.S. corn exports for the October-September international trade year are projected 3.5 million tons lower. With reduced supplies and high corn output by competitors this year, the United States is expected to lose its export market share. This month, corn exports are projected higher for Brazil and Russia.

 

See the October Feed Outlook report and previous reports.

 

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.