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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Crop Harvest, Stocks Estimates Down

The U.S. Department of Agriculture today revised down its estimate for the 2010/2011corn harvest and carryover stocks.

In its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, USDA projected 12.45 billion bushels of corn likely will be harvested, down 93 million bushels from earlier projections. Forecasts for year-end inventories of corn were expected to fall by 87 million bushels to 745 million bushels, the lowest level in more than a decade, according to analysts.

With fewer crops expected to be harvested and growing global demand for them, commodity prices have been rising -- corn has gone from around $3.50 a bushel in June to more than $6 now -- increasing food production costs. But those higher prices also are expected to prompt farmers to plant more acres with crops. Gerald Bange, chairman of USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board, speaking at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting in Atlanta, said as much as 10 million more acres could move into crop production this year.

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