Attention Turns to Forecast Ahead of Expected Rains in the US Corn Belt

Heavy rains are forecast for the Central and Eastern corn belt region, but drought still threatens the Western Corn Belt (WCB) and Northern Plains. The rainy forecast in the Central and Eastern corn belt is good news, but it will take more than scattered showers to address the drought gripping the Northern Plains and the ongoing dryness in the WCB. 

North Dakota, which produced 5% of US soybeans in 2020, has taken on greater significance this season. The state expanded its soybean acreage by 23% this year. This means that drought there could have an outsized impact on national soybean yields during a year when supplies are already tight. Follow Gro’s US Soybean Yield Forecast Model for daily yield readings on key producing states and counties. 

This year’s soybean crop is still very early in its growing cycle, but earlier this year Gro noted that soaring global grain demand means that there is zero margin to offset anything less than a perfect US crop (in both corn and soybeans). 

Corn and soybean price volatility will likely continue for the rest of this month as the market reacts to rain totals, weekly crop condition ratings, and the June 30th report on Quarterly Stocks and Planted Acres. 

Gro’s vast array of weather and climate data can be weighted by crop and monitored daily to stay ahead and better anticipate any crop supply or quality issues. 

Gro’s Climate Risk Navigator for Agriculture, available with a Gro Premium subscription, offers crop-weighted daily GFS precipitation and temperature forecasts for every district around the world. Being able to visualize these changes offers greater clarity, and can be particularly useful during volatile weather conditions. 

This insight was powered by the Gro platform, which enables better and faster decisions about factors affecting the entire global agricultural ecosystem. Gro organizes over 40,000 datasets from sources around the world into a unified ontology, which allows users to derive valuable insights such as this one. You can explore the data available on Gro with a free account, or please get in touch if you would like to learn more about a specific crop, region, or business issue.