Missouri Soybean Production Slides Seven Percent

Soybean production across Missouri came in below their forecasted harvest for the fall, dropping over 6.5 percent from the previous year.  USDA’s Annual Crop Production Report last week indicated that Missouri farmers harvested 276.9 million bushels of the crop this past year, down over 19 million bushels from the previous season’s total.  Yield was down two bushels per acre from a year ago at 49, and harvested area also decreased 160,000 acres to 5.65 million.  The most recent forecast in November had projected 50 bushels per acre, resulting in a potential harvest of 282.5 million bushels.  Nationwide, soybean production increased from the November forecast as well as last season’s total, as farmers harvested 4.44 billion bushels.  That’s an increase of over five percent from last year, including an over 10 million bushel increase from November’s projections.  Yield increased to 51.4 bushels per acre.  Despite the area coming in shorter than previous forecasts, harvested acreage was up 4.5 percent from a year ago, at 86.3 million acres.

While Missouri’s soybean harvest was lighter than the previous year, bean stockpiles were slightly larger at the start of December.  167.3 million bushels were on hand across the state, up four percent.  100 million bushels were still in farm silos, an eight-million increase from 2020, while off-farm storage was slightly lower.  Nationwide stockpiles were up seven percent at 3.15 billion bushels, including 1.52 billion still on the farm.