The U.S. small grain stocks’ survey of September 1 will assess the acreage, productivity and yield of cereals and oilseeds in Quarter 3 (Q3).
Every 3 months, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducts the grain stock survey. The last one this year on June 1, 2023 showed a rise in oats and barley production and a depreciation in the output of wheat, corn and soybean crops.
Will the awaited September 1st fall survey close the third quarter with better outcomes?
To conduct the grain survey, USDA contacts farmers in various states to capture the total land area and crop output.
The June 30 tally registered a national total of 4.11 billion bushels or 104.39 billion kg of corn, a drop by 6% from June 2022.
Wheat dropped by 17% from a similar period in 2022 to settle at 580 million bushels (15.76 billion kg) while durum wheat was up by 18% on June 1.
The drop in corn production owes to lower acreage than in 2022 and heavy rainfall in July, 2023.
The yields of small grains such as oats and barley, however, have increased substantially since 2022. The June 1 report showed production of 56.3 million bushels (1.23 billion kg) of barley, 34% above those of mid-2022. Stocks of oats also shot up 7% over those of June 2022, at 34.8 million bushels (504.6 million kg) in June 2023.
The June 1 survey also showed a significant drop in the yield of various cereal crops in the 2nd quarter from those captured on March 1, 2023.
Despite going one better than the June 2022 equivalent, barley production fell by 31.85 million bushels in June 2023 from 88.722 million bushels in March 2023.
Corn production stood at 7.4 billion bushels in the first quarter while in the second quarter of 2023 it had dropped to 4.11 billion bushels.
Oats, despite spiking by 7% from the June 2022 output, were down by over 8 million bushels from the March 1 survey that had put their total at 42.91 million bushels.
Wheat output, on the other hand, dropped in Quarter 2 by nearly 50% from the gains of Quarter 1. Total output was 945.92 million bushels in March 2023 and 580.1 million bushels in June 2023.