The mid-growing season data show the national corn and soybean crops on a path to trendline yields. USDA's Crop Progress reports provide us a snapshot of the condition of the crops. Every weekend, roughly 3,600 cropping experts rate the crops in their region on a "very poor" to "excellent" scale. This year's ratings indicate that both crops are slightly poorer than last year, but are slightly better than the five-year average. For corn, 68% of the nation's crop is rated good to excellent. That's 6% below last year's crop at this time and roughly 2% better than the five-year average. For soybeans, 65% of the nation's crop is rated good to excellent. That's 5% below last year's crop, but still roughly 2% above the five-year average. Given the current crop conditions are above the five-year averages for this time of year, the ratings point to the potential for yields at or better than trend.
As has been the issue for the past few years, the markets are looking for growth areas for usage to consume the large supplies. For the corn market, that growth is coming from international markets. For the soybean market, the usage is home-grown. Despite the uncertainty and numerous policy shifts within trade, US corn export sales have grown over the past two years. Figures 1 and 3 show the changes in corn and soybean export sales between the 2024 and 2025 crop years. The bars in the figures highlight the bushel change in sales, along with the percentage change for each country or region listed. These figures show the current pattern in exports from last year's crops. Figures 2 and 4 display the advance export sales patterns for the 2026 corn and soybean crops, along with some historical benchmarks. The graphs contain the data for the 2024 and 2025 crops, along with the sales thus far for the 2026 crop and the five-year average (2021-2025) pattern for export sales. The lines for each year basically start at the beginning of the calendar year when the crop was planted and harvested, so the sales represented are being made either before the crop is planted or during the growing season. These figures signal the expected demand for this year's crops from the international markets.
Source : iastate.edu