NASS Also to Re-Survey Operators with Unharvested Small Grains

Contact: Lance Honig, (202) 720-2127; Krissy Young, (202) 690-8123

Washington, Sept. 30, 2014 – According to the Grain Stocks report released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), there were 1.24 billion bushels of old crop corn in all positions as of September 1, up 50 percent from the same time last year. Of the total stocks, 462 million bushels of corn were stored on farms and 774 million bushels were stored off the farm, up 68 and 42 percent from the prior year, respectively. The U.S. corn disappearance totaled 2.62 billion bushels during June-August, up from 1.95 billion bushels during the same period last year.

NASS also reported that as of September 1, there were 92.0 million bushels of old crop soybeans in storage, down 35 percent from a year ago. Of the total stocks, 21.3 million bushels of soybeans were stored on farms and 70.6 million bushels were stored off the farm, down 46 and 30 percent from last September, respectively. The U.S. soybean disappearance during June-August totaled 313 million bushels, up 6 percent from the same period last year.

In addition to releasing the Grain Stocks report, NASS also released the Small Grains 2014 Summary, which included the final tallies for U.S. wheat, oats and other small grains. NASS reported growers harvested 46.5 million acres of wheat this year, up 3 percent from 2013. The levels of production and changes from 2013 by type are winter wheat, 1.38 billion bushels, down 11 percent; other spring wheat, 601 million bushels, up 12 percent; and Durum wheat, 57.1 million bushels, down 2 percent.

Oat production is estimated at 70.5 million bushels, up 9 percent from 2013, but the fourth lowest production on record. Harvested area, at 1.04 million acres, is 3 percent above last year but is the third lowest acreage harvested for grain on record.

Due to delays in this year’s harvest, NASS will re-survey small grain growers in Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Operators that reported unharvested acres will be asked to verify and update, if necessary, their acreage, yield and production for barley, oats, Durum wheat and other spring wheat.

When producers were surveyed earlier this month, there was significant unharvested acreage in these eight states. As a result of this re-surveying effort, NASS may release updated estimates for small grains in its November 10 Crop Production report. Stocks estimates are also subject to review since unharvested production is included in the estimate of on-farm stocks.

All NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.