USDA lowers Iowa, Nebraska corn crop predictions

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Agriculture Department has lowered its predictions for some drought-stunted crops in Nebraska and neighboring Iowa, according to a report released Friday.

The USDA's Agricultural Statistics Service said that, based on Nov. 1 conditions, it expects a Nebraska corn crop of 1.27 billion bushels. That's down more than 2 percent from the October forecast and 17 percent below last year.

The yield was forecast at 139 bushels an acres, which is 3 bushels less than last month and 21 less than a year ago.

The Nebraska corn acres to be harvested for grain were listed at 9.15 million, which is 5 percent less than a year ago.

In Iowa, a corn crop of 1.90 billion bushels was expected, which is down more than 1 percent from October and down 19 percent from last year.

The Iowa corn yield was expected to hit 139 bushels an acre, which is 1 bushel less than the October figure.

The Iowa corn acres to be harvested for grain were listed at 13.7 million acres, the same as 2011.

Nationally, the USDA raised its November corn forecast to 10.7 billion bushels, 19 million bushels more than the October forecast. The total would amount to the lowest U.S. production since 2006.

The USDA raised its Iowa soybean prediction for the year, based on the Nov. 1 conditions.

An Iowa crop of 409 million bushels was expected, which was more than 2.5 percent higher than the October figure but still 14 percent under last year.

The Iowa soybean yield was expected to hit 44 bushels an acre, which is 1 bushel above the October forecast but down 7.5 bushels from last year.

The Iowa soybean acres to be harvested for grain was pegged at 9.29 million acres, compared with 9.23 million acres last year.

In Nebraska, the soybean crop was forecast at 203 million bushels, the same figure as October and 22 percent below 2011.

Nationally, the soybean production was expected to hit 2.97 billion bushels, which is 4 percent higher than the October forecast but down 4 percent from last year.

The national soybean yield was expected to average 39.3 bushels an acre, which is up 1.5 bushels from October but down 2.6 bushels from last year.