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The storm moved across the Midwest on Aug. 10, with winds recorded near or above 100 miles an hour in Iowa and Illinois.
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A devastating windstorm that cut a swath across central Iowa last month eliminated about 550,000 acres of corn, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated Friday.
A derecho, an unusually intense and long-lasting storm, swept across the Midwest on Aug. 10, bringing hurricane-style winds that knocked down crops, caused billions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses and left hundreds of thousands without power.
Here’s a glimpse at some crop damage in the aftermath of the storm via satellite from NASA Earth Observatory:
In its crop production report, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said it had gathered additional data in response to the storm, leading it to reduce its estimate of corn to be harvested for grain in Iowa by 550,000 acres. Soybean acres were left unchanged.
Nationwide, USDA forecast 83.5 million acres of corn would be harvested this year, down 1% from its August estimate but up 3% from 2019. USDA also lowered its yield estimate, largely reflecting the effect of dry weather over the last several weeks in parts of the Midwest, analysts said.
USDA estimated the U.S. corn crop at 14.9 billion bushels, down 2 % from its August forecast but up 9% from 2019. Based on conditions as of September 1, yields are expected to average a record high 178.5 bushels per harvested acre, down 3.3 bushels from the previous forecast but up 11.1 bushels from last year.
New-crop December corn futures CZ20, +1.23% were up 4 1/4 cents at $3.69 1/4 a bushel after hitting its highest level for a most actively traded contract since March.
USDA forecast soybean production at 4.3 billion bushels, down 112 million from the previous forecast, citing a lower yield forecast. Yield is down 1.4 bushels per acre from the August forecast to 51.9 bushels per acre, it said. The USDA also forecast U.S. exports of 2.125 billion bushels for 2020/2021, up from 1.68 billion bushels the previous marketing year.
November soybean futures SX20, +2.04% were up 1 1/2 cents at $9.97 1/2 a bushel, on track for their highest close since 2018.
Overall estimates were largely in line with expectations, analysts said.
The USDA said that since many producers indicated they were still completing decisions regarding some of the impacted acres, NASS would collect harvested acreage for corn and soybeans in Iowa for the October crop production report.
Myra P. Saefong contributed reporting.
