Kansas Wheat Crop forecast 22% lower than last year

Based on May 1 conditions, Kansas’s 2023 winter wheat crop is forecast at 191 million bushels, down 22% from last year’s crop, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Average yield is forecast at 29 bushels per acre, down 8 bushels from last year. Acreage to be harvested for grain is estimated at 6.60 million acres, unchanged from last year. This would be 81% of the planted acres, below last year’s 90% harvested.  May 1 hay stocks of 740,000 tons are up 10% from last year.

USDA projects a record U.S. corn crop of 15.3 billion bushels, up over 10 percent on increases to both area and yield. The yield projection is 181.5 bushels per acre. The 2023-2024 corn outlook calls for larger production, greater domestic use and exports, and higher ending stocks. Total corn supplies are forecast at 16.7 billion bushels. The season-average farm price is expected to be $4.80 a bushel, down $1.80 from the prior year. The U.S. soybean crop will be 4.51 billion bushels, up five percent from last year on higher yields. Soybean supplies are projected to be up four percent to 4.75 billion bushels. The season-average soybean price is forecast more than $2 lower at $12.10 per bushel. The USDA’s all-wheat production is forecast at 1.65 million bushels, up slightly from the previous year. The all-wheat yield is projected at 44.7 bushels, and the season-average price is down to $8 a bushel.