ICYMI: USGC 2020 Corn Harvest Quality Report: Higher Average Test Weight, Lower Moisture And Damage

The 2020/2021 U.S. corn crop – entering marketing channels now – has a higher average test weight, lower moisture and lower total damage relative to each quality factor’s average of the previous five crops, according to the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) 2020/2021 Corn Harvest Quality Report.

While wet weather conditions in April and May contributed to historic delays in planting and crop maturity in 2019, the 2020 crop was planted slightly ahead of the average pace of the previous five crops and experienced generally favorable conditions during the remainder of the growing season, resulting in a corn crop with both high grain quality and yield.

“Through trade, the Council is committed to the furtherance of global food security and mutual economic benefit. We offer this report to assist buyers in making well-informed decisions by providing reliable and timely information about the quality of the current U.S. crop,” said USGC Chairman Jim Raben. “This year’s ample supply allows the United States to remain the world’s leading corn exporter, accounting for an estimated 36.4 percent of global corn exports during the marketing year.”

The report is based on 601 yellow corn samples taken from defined areas within 12 of the top corn-producing and exporting states. Inbound samples were collected from local grain elevators to measure and analyze quality at the point of origin and provide representative information about the variability of the quality characteristics across the diverse geographic regions.

Report results show:

– 84.7 percent of the samples met the grade factor requirements for U.S. No. 1 grade
– 94.5 percent met the grade factor requirements for U.S. No. 2;
– higher test weight than the 2019 and five-year average;
– lower average broken corn and foreign material (BCFM) than 2019;
– lower average total damage than 2019 and the five-year average;
– lower average moisture content than 2019 or the five-year average;
– higher-than-average protein concentration than 2019 and the five-year average;
– lower average stress cracks than 2019;
– lower average 100-kernel weight than 2019 or the five-year average;
– more than 99 percent of the samples tested below the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) action level for aflatoxins;
– 100 percent of the samples tested below the FDA advisory level for deoxynivalenol (DON) or vomitoxin; and
– 98.9 percent tested below the FDA’s strictest guidance level for fumonisin.

The 2020 U.S. corn crop is expected to be the third largest (368.49 million metric tons/14.5 billion bushels) and has the third-highest average yield on record (11.04 metric tons/hectare or 175.8 bushels per acre), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE).

In addition to the harvest quality report, a second Council report, the 2020/2021 Corn Export Cargo Quality Report, will measure corn quality at export terminals at the point of loading. That report will be available in early 2021.

The Council will virtually present its findings to buyers around the world in roll-out events starting on Dec. 11 in Southeast Asia and continuing through the first quarter of 2020. These events will offer participants clear expectations regarding the quality of corn for this marketing year accompanied by presentations on U.S. corn grading and handling, which helps provide a better understanding of how U.S. corn is moved and controlled through export channels.

Additional roll-out events are scheduled in January in Latin America, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa and Northeast Asia regions as well as Mexico.

Read the full 2020/2021 corn harvest quality report.