MARKED PROGRESS MADE ON CORN, TOBACCO HARVEST

Dry weather last week paved the way for Tennessee growers to make marked progress on corn and tobacco harvest. Producer reported corn yields are better than earlier anticipated. Soybean harvest was just beginning last week and cotton was being defoliated. Plentiful amounts of hay was harvested and put up over the past week in most areas while in other areas, warmer temperatures have limited pasture growth and hay may need to be fed sooner this year. There were 5.5 days suitable for field work. Topsoil moisture rated 5 percent very short, 20 percent short, 69 percent adequate, and 6 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture rated 12 percent very short, 29 percent short, 56 percent adequate, and 3 percent surplus. Continue reading at TN_09_10_18. The U.S. Crop Progress report can be read at CropProg-09-11-2018.

Corn and soybeans were up; cotton and wheat were down for the week.

This week corn and soybean prices moved mostly sideways as markets are
awaiting the next round of USDA yield and production estimates. National and
Tennessee yields are anticipated to be record high for both corn and soybeans.
Current national average yield estimates from private companies are 177-182 bu/acre for corn and 50-54 bu/acre for soybeans. Current USDA estimates are national average yield of 178.4 bu/acre and 51.6 bu/acre and for Tennessee 174 bu/acre and 49 bu/acre. A one bushel increase or decrease in national average yield will add or subtract about 82 million bushels of corn or 89 million bushels of soybeans from total domestic production. The USDA releases the September WASDE on Wednesday (September 12). Continue reading at Tennessee Market Highlights.

ROW CROP HARVEST IN PROGRESS

Corn harvest was active over the past week, with good yields reported. Soybean and cotton harvest are expected to start in the coming week. Cooler temperatures stimulated pasture growth. There were 6.0 days suitable for field work. Topsoil moisture rated 6 percent very short, 27 percent short, 65 percent adequate, and 2 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture rated 10 percent very short, 31 percent short, 58 percent adequate, and 1 percent surplus.  Continue reading at TN_09_04_18. The U.S. Crop Progress report can be read at CropProg-09-04-2018.

Corn, cotton, and wheat were up; soybeans were down for the week.

A sharp rally on Friday allowed corn and wheat futures to finish the week up a couple of cents. Soybeans also had a strong finish Friday closing up 11-13 cents for the day, however, soybean futures were still down 9-12 cents for the week. Cotton moved mostly sideways for the second consecutive week. For now, the December cotton contract appears to  settling in an 80 ½ to 84 ½ cent trading range. Holding the bottom of this rage will be key as we move through September or prices may trend lower.

August was a disastrous month for commodity futures prices as trade disruptions and record projected domestic yields weighed heavily on markets. December corn opened the month at $3.86 ¼ and closed at $3.65, down 21 ¼ cents for the month. November
soybeans opened the month at $9.13 and closed at $8.43 ½, down 69 ½ cents for the month. September wheat opened the month at $5.55 ¼ and closed at $5.18 ½, down 36 ¾ cents for the month. December cotton opened the month at 89.39 and closed at 82.22, down 7.17 cents for the month. Continue reading at Tennessee Market Highlights.

UT Crops has a new podcast. It’s called Call of the Week. It will feature our specialists discussing their most frequent calls and questions from the past seven days, and provide you with a way to enjoy our blog when behind the wheel. Continue reading →

The increase in wheat prices relative to the decrease in soybeans and corn has increased interest in Tennessee for planting wheat this fall.

By design or by accident, producers considering wheat have started the financial planning process for 2019. In doing so, there should be a comparison in how wheat will stack up to other crops competing for the same space on that acre of land. Continue reading at Southeast Farm Press.