Row Crops Today — June 2, 2026
The 5-minute 5 AM brief for row crop producers and ag professionals
Headline Stack
📊 USDA's first 2026 crop ratings: 67% of corn, 66% of soybeans good to excellent
🌍 Glauber: China's 25 MMT soybean pledge rings hollow with 10% surcharge in place
🛢️ Iran war pushes Ohio nitrogen to $600–$700/ton, diesel near $6/gallon
🏭 CHS to close or sell three southern Minnesota elevators after 2026 harvest
📈 April soybean crush hits 218M bushels, up 16M from year ago
Top Story
📊 USDA's first 2026 crop ratings put corn at 67% good to excellent. — LINK
USDA's first weekly Crop Progress report of the 2026 season rated 67% of U.S. corn and 66% of U.S. soybeans in good-to-excellent condition, establishing the baseline against which summer yield forecasts will be measured. The agency reported corn 93% planted and 76% emerged nationally, while soybean planting advanced alongside the first national condition score of the year. The figures came in below the pre-report estimate from independent crop scout Michael Cordonnier, who had pegged corn good-to-excellent at 74–75% in the days before the release. The Crop Progress report is compiled from observations by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service field enumerators and state statisticians, and the weekly series will run through harvest. Last year's debut corn rating ran several points higher than the 2026 opener, giving traders an early data point ahead of the June 12 WASDE update.
More This Week
🌍 Glauber questions China's soybean commitments while tariffs remain. — LINK
U.S. ag exports to China have fallen to $5.1 billion through March 2026, compared with $8.3 billion in 2024, according to former USDA chief economist Joe Glauber, even as China has pledged to buy 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this marketing year and 25 million metric tons annually through 2028.
"Yes, China is committed to buying 12 million tons of soybeans and then, 25 million tons in the years that come by. But at least the 10 percent surcharge on the 3 percent tariff for soybeans still applies. So they are paying more for U.S. soybeans as a result," Glauber told Brownfield.
China has also committed to at least $17 billion in U.S. agricultural purchases each year through 2028; President Trump has invited President Xi Jinping to visit the White House in September.
🛢️ Iran war pushes Ohio nitrogen prices up $100/ton, diesel to $6. — LINK
Darke County, Ohio farmer Chad Warner reports nitrogen fertilizer jumped from $400–$490 to $600–$700 per metric ton within days of the Iran conflict starting in late February, while diesel climbed from the mid-$3 range to roughly $6 per gallon.
"The first thing was fuel prices. Soon after that, fertilizer jumped for nitrogen," said Chad Warner, Darke County farmer and Ohio Soybean Council member.
The Strait of Hormuz carried up to 30% of global fertilizer trade, 20% of liquefied natural gas, and 27% of globally traded oil in 2024, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute.
📈 April soybean crush at 218M bushels, corn-for-ethanol down 10% from March. — LINK
USDA reported 218 million bushels of soybeans crushed in April — down 14 million from March but up 16 million from a year ago — while 427.676 million bushels of corn were used to make ethanol, down 10% month-over-month but still up 1% year-over-year.
Distillers dried grains with solubles production totaled 1,611,987 tons in April, a 10% decline from the previous month and 1% below year-ago levels, according to USDA.
Soybean oil stocks ran above year-ago levels on stronger production, but biodiesel demand kept pulling oil through; soybean meal stocks were tighter on feed usage. USDA's next crush and corn-for-ethanol outlooks publish June 11.
🏭 CHS to close or sell three southern Minnesota elevators after 2026 harvest. — LINK
CHS confirmed plans to close or sell its Kasson (3 million bushel capacity), Ostrander, and Wykoff (3.2 million bushel combined capacity) grain elevators, removing roughly 6.2 million bushels of local handling capacity after the 2026 harvest.
"While smaller facilities, such as these three, have served CHS well in the past, the grain supply chain in southern Minnesota has evolved into a market where local corn/soybean processing facilities and river terminals are the primary markets," said Jim Morken, CHS Senior Director of Operations.
The elevators will accept grain through the 2026 harvest, with final transfers expected in early 2027; CHS recently posted a $147.1 million second-quarter loss on revenues of $8.4 billion, a 95% increase from its $75.8 million loss in Q2 2025.
Basis Watch
South Dakota East Central old-crop corn basis firmed 12 cents on Monday, the day's largest corn move, with Illinois Little Egypt close behind at 11 cents stronger and Nebraska Northeast improving as much as 10 cents on the high end. Iowa North Central added 6 cents, and a band of Nebraska, Missouri, and South Dakota locations firmed 5 cents. New-crop corn at Kentucky Pennyrile weakened 2 cents, running counter to the old-crop strength elsewhere.
Soybean basis told a different story. Missouri North Central old-crop beans broke 45 cents on the low end — most other locations moved in the 2 to 9 cent range. Iowa Southeast firmed 9 cents and Illinois Little Egypt improved 11 cents, while Missouri Northeast, Nebraska Central, and South Dakota North Central softened 5 to 7 cents.
Source: USDA AMS
U.S. processors crushed 218 million bushels of soybeans in April 2026 — 16 million more than the same month a year ago — reflecting year-over-year demand growth even as monthly volumes pulled back from March's pace.
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