After experiencing a strong rally over the past month, the grain markets came crashing down this week. “You could call it a virtual collapse of the markets,” says Jerry Gulke of the Gulke Group.

After the USDA’s June 30 acreage report last Friday, some people were questioning its accuracy. The March 30 prospective planting report had corn and soybeans within 500 thousand acres of each other, and many anticipated some of those corn acres moving to beans after April and May made for one of the wettest springs on record. But the June report widened that gap to 1.4 million acres, with corn currently estimated at 90.9 million acres and soybeans at 89.5 million acres.

Find out what you need to know about the data, the market’s reaction, and what you need to do after USDA’s release of the March 31 Prospective Plantings and quarterly Grain Stocks reports.

Acreage used for soy may exceed corn for first time since 1983.

Grain markets yawned Thursday after the release of the latest supply and demand report from the USDA.

Farmers in Minnesota are starting to get more soybeans and corn harvested after some dry weather.

The latest crop production report has USDA factoring in record corn and soybean crops, even though states like Ohio had weather extremes this growing season.

On U.S. Farm Report, analysts Tommy Grisafi and Mike North discuss what caused this soybean rally and how long it’s been since corn has been more than $5.

Weather challenges in the Southern Hemisphere could send U.S. soybean prices higher, says DuWayne Bosse, a producer and market analyst with Bolt Marketing.

Many farmers are focused on bringing in the harvest and mapping out marketing decisions for the fall and winter. Yet there are plenty of entrepreneurs willing to look past rows of corn and soybeans to the potential profit locked inside unusual plants. U.S. producers are investigating sales possibilities for crops such as hemp, pawpaw fruit and edamame, three different crops with similar challenges. Farmers who intend to grow them must learn all of their agronomic needs, crunch the numbers on costs and ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place to process and market them. For those who break into a niche, the revenue can be tremendous.