The United States Department of Agriculture says the current U.S. corn crop will be the biggest ever, 1.9% larger than last year's record harvest.
According to predictions, growers will harvest 13.365 billion bushels of corn, up from last year's 13.110 billion bushels and more than the 13.245 billion bushels forecast last month. The predicted numbers are being attributed to farmers planting the second-most acres of corn since 1946 and the help of this year's warm, wet weather.
"We are going to have a good crop," said Dale Durchholz, an AgriVisor market analyst. "This report is a good jumping-off point, but the crop is uneven and needs some cooler temperatures and rains this month to reach full yield potential." In the meantime, corn futures for December delivery rose 0.5% to $4.11 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. Overall the commodity has gained 19 percent since June 29.
