USDA's statistics arm to conduct resurvey for unharvested corn

New Delhi — US Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service will conduct a resurvey in spring for unharvested corn acreage in the country, the agency said in a notice Friday.

NASS released its US crop production report on Friday, which is likely to be updated if the newly collected data justifies any changes, the notice said.

The regions where the resurvey will be conducted are Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin as there was significant unharvested acreage of corn in these areas when the survey for the crop production report was conducted, NASS said.

Analysts had previously told S&P Global Platts that there were chances of a special survey for 2019 harvested area and production this spring as acres of corn remained under snow during the harvest season, keeping farmers from finishing the harvest of the crop.

The 2019-20 marketing year remains particularly challenging for corn production in the US due to inclement weather conditions, which delayed the sowing and the harvest of corn in the country.

In the crop production report released on Friday, NASS estimates US corn output for the marketing year 2019-20 (September-August) to be at 13.692 billion bushels (347.78 million mt).

It expects corn acreage and harvested acres in the US to be at 89.7 million acres and 81.5 million acres, respectively.

The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, also released on Friday, kept its 2019-20 production and acreage estimates for US corn similar to the estimates in the annual US crop production forecast by NASS. The January estimates are usually considered the final US crop estimate for the season.