U.S. Corn Yield Falls In January WASDE Report

The USDA released its January WASDE report Tuesday morning.

 

Dan Basse is president of AgResource Company in Chicago.

 

"The report came out as bullish. The big shocker was the drop of U.S. corn yield of about 3.8 bushels an acre. That cut 325 million bushels from U.S. corn production, a sizable number looking back to the November estimate and got the corn market rising. We also found that feed residual consumption, that feed usage in the first quarter...was also record large. Not only did we lose a lot of corn, we also found this strong demand component for domestic use."

 

Basse notes corn futures in Chicago were up 25 cents (daily limit) at mid-day.

Video: USDA Feb Crop Report a WIN for Soybeans + 1 Year Trade Truce Extension

USDA took Trumps comments that China would buy more U.S. soybeans seriously and headline news that the U.S./China trade truce would be extended when Trump/Xi meet in the first week of April was a BIG WIN for soybeans this week! 2026 “Mini” U.S. ethanol boom thanks to 45Z + China’s ban of phosphates from Feb. – August of 2026 will not help lower fertilizer prices anytime soon! 30 mmt of Chinese corn harvest is of poor quality and maybe a technical breakout in wheat futures.

*Apologies! Where we talk about the latest CFTC update as of 10th Feb 2026, managed money funds covered their net short position in canola to the tune of +42,746 week-on-week to flip to net long 145 contracts and not (as we mistakenly said) +90,009 wk/wk to 47,408.