USDA lowered its outlook for the 2026 U.S. corn crop while slightly increasing its soybean production estimate in its latest forecast released Friday.
The department projects the national corn yield at 178.5 bushels per acre, down 2.2 bushels from its August estimate. Total corn production is forecast at 15.8 billion bushels, a decrease of 213 million bushels from last month’s projection.
USDA also lowered projected new-crop corn ending stocks to 1.56 billion bushels. The average farm-price forecast increased 30 cents to $4.80 per bushel.
The soybean outlook moved in the opposite direction. USDA increased its national soybean yield estimate to 52.8 bushels per acre, putting projected production at a record 4.53 billion bushels.
Despite the larger production forecast, projected soybean ending stocks declined to 310 million bushels. USDA increased its average farm-price forecast by 60 cents to $12 per bushel.
The department left its U.S. wheat production estimate unchanged at 1.53 billion bushels.