USDA: Ongoing Drought Causes Significant Crop Yield Declines

ScienceDaily (Aug. 10, 2012) — Corn production will drop 13 percent to a six-year low, the U.S. Agriculture Department said today (Aug. 10), confirming what many farmers already knew -- they are having a very bad year, Ohio State University Extension economist Matt Roberts said.

In its monthly crops report, USDA today cut its projected U.S. corn production to 10.8 billion bushels, down 17 percent from its forecast last month of nearly 13 billion bushels and 13 percent lower than last year. Soybean production is forecast to be down as well, to 2.69 billion bushels, which is 12 percent lower than last year, as well as lower than the 3.05 billion bushels the USDA forecast last month.

The projections mean this year's corn production will be the lowest production since 2006, with soybeans at its lowest production rate since 2003, Roberts said. The USDA said it expects corn growers to average 123.4 bushels per acre, down 24 bushels from last year, while soybean growers are expected to average 36.1 bushels per acre, down 5.4 bushels from last year.

In Ohio, those numbers translate into a projected 126 bushels per acre yield, which is down 32 bushels per acre from last year for corn, he said. Soybeans are projected at 42 bushels per acre, down from last year's 47.5 bushels per acre yield.

The impact on growers is going to be tough, Roberts said.

"I don't think this is a surprise to anyone, especially growers," he said. "For most farmers, this is the year that they will lose much of the profits they've made over five good years.

"I don't expect to see a lot of bankruptcies, but certainly there will be a lot of belt-tightening among farmers this year. With crop insurance so widespread, it will help ensure that we don't see a lot of bankruptcies and help farmers weather this storm."

This as Ohioans have suffered through multiple days of record-setting temperatures of over 100 degrees this summer, with scant rainfall that has resulted in parched crop fields. In fact, with an average temperature of 77.6 degrees, July was the hottest month ever recorded nationwide, breaking a record set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, according to the National Climatic Data Center. More