WASHINGTON, D.C. – The 2024 U.S. corn crop is projected to be the third largest on record, with the highest 100-kernel weight in the history of the report, and lower broken corn and foreign material, lower total damage and lower moisture than in the last five years.

That’s according to the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC) 2024/2025 Corn Harvest Quality Report, which the council said was the 14th such annual survey published globally.

“The council takes pride in producing this annual report that proves the quality and abundance of U.S. corn year over year,” said Verity Ulibarri, USGC chairwoman. “Because the U.S. is dedicated to transparency and sharing it with potential buyers, it helps them make informed decisions, and aligns with the council’s mission of developing markets, enabling trade, and improving lives.

“The information contained in the report provides the foundation for evaluating trends and the factors that impact corn quality,” she added. “The cumulative reports also enable export buyers to make year-to-year comparisons and assess patterns of corn quality, based on crop growing conditions across the years.”

Released Dec. 9, the report said favorable growing season conditions contributed to the highest projected average yield on record and promoted good grain quality. Relatively warm, dry conditions during September and October also permitted an effective dry-down and timely harvest, thus maintaining the overall quality of the 2024 corn crop.

The report added the 2024 growing season was characterized by “quick emergence, warm conditions during the growing season, ample moisture and milder temperatures during pollination, and warm, dry conditions during dry-down and harvest.”

Given these generally favorable growing conditions, the report said average yield is projected to be the highest on record. Despite slightly lower harvested hectares (a metric unit of square measure, equal to 100 ares, or 2.471 acres or 10,000 square meters) compared to last year, total production is projected to be 384.64 million metric tons.

Moreover, the report said the 2024 crop, on average, is entering the market channel with characteristics that met or exceeded each grade factor’s numerical requirements for U.S. No. 1 grade corn. The report also showed that 89.2 percent of the samples met all grade factor requirements for U.S. No. 1 grade, and 96.2 percent met the grade factor requirements for U.S. No. 2 grade corn.

The USGC said the report is based on 620 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.

Although he declined to list the 12 top corn-producing and exporting states in the nation that were sampled for the report, Alexander Grabois, USGC manager of global strategies and trade, told Farm World, “We collected samples from the entirety of the Corn Belt, with samples arriving as harvesting was completed. This would mean that the southern corn-producing states got their samples in sooner than counterparts to the north.

“When we publish our reports, we do not isolate results by U.S. state, but by Export Catchment Area (the geographic region surrounding a specific location from which goods are primarily sourced and exported, essentially the area where products are collected and prepared for shipment to international markets),” he said.

“These are separated into three categories: the Gulf, Southern Rail, and the Pacific Northwest,” he added. “This separation is done since specific markets tend to buy from one of these specific export areas (e.g., Asian markets are more inclined to have corn shipped out of the Pacific Northwest; Southern Rail primarily goes to Mexico, etc.), and it allows customers to understand the trends and characteristics of the corn that they will likely be receiving.”

As a whole, he said, this year’s report recorded the highest test weight in the history of its publication, at 58.9 pounds per bushel among all samples.

“The broken corn and foreign material was consistent among the three Export Catchment Areas (i.e., the Gulf, Southern Rail, and the Pacific Northwest), showing an average of 0.6 percent, the second lowest since the publication of this report,” he said. “A reason for this can be explained through the weather patterns around harvest, where there was less need for artificial drying than in years past.” 

When asked what methods were employed to gather the information on the 620 yellow corn samples from these defined areas within these 12 top corn-producing states, he said, “The consulting company that works with the U.S. Grains Council on compiling this report works directly with export elevators in all the states where we collected samples from, sending over detailed sample taking and shipping instructions.

“Upon receipt of the samples, they work with a third party lab to conduct the analyses that readers can find in the report,” he added.

He said the USGC plans to present the report’s findings worldwide through the first quarter of 2025, “in all offices with representation, and will be done so in a variety of fashions, ranging from online seminars, which will be held in India and Southeast Asia, to conferences (i.e., Taiwan, Korea, and Japan), and client facing engagement (i.e., Mexico, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa).

“The goal with these presentations is to be able to give an outlook to our customers, while also being able to answer any questions that they may have regarding U.S. corn use and quality,” he said. “The ability to have these open discussions creates a transparent environment and one that highlights the benefits of U.S.-origin corn, bringing it to the forefront of conversations.”

To read the full report, visit: www.grains.org.