August 28

8/28 - Three weeks of intense heat across wide areas of the U.S. has brought yield risk to crops and safety threats to livestock. Despite recent rain in the Midwest, agricultural meteorologists say that the heat has dried up ground moisture quickly and that wheat, soybean, and corn crops are all under extreme stress. On the livestock side, animals reduce food intake and increase water consumption when temps soar. Everything from cattle weights to bird mortality to milk yield per cow is likely to be affected. So far, prices for corn at $4.70/bushel and cattle at $180.68/cwt are still stable. In its August WASDE report, the USDA reduced 2023/24 corn yield from 177.5 to 175.1 bushels per acre and cut this year’s corn crop forecast by 209M bushels. The USDA also bumped its 2023/24 corn price forecast from $4.80 to $4.90 per bushel – but odds are that forecast will be raised to above $5.00 over the next few months.