ANKENY – A record soybean crop may be projected nationwide, but Iowa Soybean Association leaders don’t expect a bumper harvest due to adverse weather.
Iowa farmers will harvest an estimated 512 million bushels, up 10 million from August estimates, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Crop Production Report released Monday. The average yield is estimated at 51 bushels per acre, up 1 bushel from last month.
Nationally, record soybean production is on tap, the report said. If realized, the crop will exceed the largest in a decade by more than 500 million bushels.
Soybean yields nationwide are projected at 46.6 bushels per acre. While a new high, the primary reason for bin-busting production across the country is a substantial increase in harvested acres at 84.4 million, up 11 percent from last year. Soybean ending stocks are projected at 475 million bushels, which would be the highest since 2006/07.
China and other countries purchased more than 800,000 tons of U.S. soybeans this week, government data shows.