Fundamentally Speaking

Weather in most of the key U.S. corn and soybean producing areas was generally hot and somewhat dry for July and August and this is reflected in 2026 corn and soybean yields that are below trend for both the U.S. and many key states.

This chart shows the combined July and August precipitation as a percent of the average 1895-2025 totals for the top corn and soybean growing states and the U.S. on the left-hand axis while reported on the right-hand axis is the difference from the average July-August temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit also using the 1895-2025 totals for the top corn and soybean growing states and the U.S.

Starting with temperatures, all 15 of the top corn and bean states plus CO, PA and TX for corn and AK, LA and MS for soybeans had above average July and August readings.

Colorado had an average July-August temperature of 71.3 which was 4.8 degrees above its 1895-2025 average, the hottest ever.

The U.S. as a whole also saw its hottest average July-August reading. AK, LA, MS, NC, ND, SD, and TX had average July-August temperatures ranking in their top ten hottest.

Note that IA, IL, IN and OH, PA, KY and TN had the mildest temperatures.

It appears that the more southern and northern states had the hottest readings with those states in the middle seeing relatively cooler readings.

As for rains, the Delta states of AK, LA and MS all had less than two-thirds of normal combined July-August precipitation while the Plains states of KS, ND, and TX had less than 75% while MN and WI were also close to just three-quarters normal.

On the other hand, IL, IN, IA, KY, OH, PA and TN had above average rain.

These differences in weather patterns reflected on the percent deviations of 2026 row crop yields from trend as CO, KS, ND, and SD have well below trend corn yields as does NE and NC while IA has best yield above trend at 5.3% with KY, MO, PA and TN also doing well.

For soybeans, as opposed to last year, Plains states of KS, ND and SD saw yields well below trend with IA, IN and OH faring the best.

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