2012 U.S. corn crop is forecast to have a record early harvest

As described in Charts of Note on July 19, 2012, the 2012 U.S. corn crop was planted earlier than usual due to relatively mild winter weather. Early planting can lead to early harvest, which can affect the supply and demand corn balance sheet in both the old and new crop marketing years. This chart shows the amount and share of total corn production harvested before September 1st since 1990, as well as forecasts for 2012. Early harvest is forecast at nearly 11 percent of the 2012 crop, and estimates of feed and residual use for 2011/12 have been lowered 150 million bushels based on the record level of crop maturity and harvest progress. Early new-crop corn use is expected to displace some use of 2011 old-crop corn and boost old-crop inventories. This chart comes from Feed Outlook, FDS-12i, September 2012.

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