Corn production and yields are shaping up to be records in 2014, according to the latest forecast from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released Tuesday. 

The report pegged U.S. corn production at a record 356.43 million tons (14 billion bushels), with yields projected at 10.5 tons per hectare (167 bushels per acre), the highest ever, compared with 9.9 tons per hectare (157 bushels per acre) last year.

This bin-busting crop is expected to be high-quality as well. As of Aug. 10, 73 percent of the corn crop is rated as excellent or good condition, compared to 64 percent at the same time last year, according to the USDA. As of Aug. 12, nearly 96 percent of the U.S. corn crop is in the silking stage, 54 percent in the dough stage and 11 percent dented.

“U.S. farmers use the best genetics, technology and management practices available to grow grains for the world market,” said U.S. Grains Council Chairman Ron Gray, a farmer from Illinois. “This year, these advantages have resulted in potentially a record crop.”

Due to mostly flat U.S. consumption expectations in the WASDE report, there should be an abundant, high-quality supply of U.S. corn and co-products.

“The Council has more than 50 years of experience overcoming barriers and creating new opportunities to ensure that the U.S. corn crop has a place in the global market,” Gray said. “Across the world, demand is starkly evident, and clearly the United States’ supply is abundant.

“The Council is working tirelessly to mesh these dynamics, and if the USDA is correct, as we head into the 2014/2015 marketing year, it will be a buyers’ market.”

While the USDA continues to report conditions that point to a plentiful 2014 U.S. corn harvest, the weather for the rest of the season will determine the final production.