Episode 278: January WASDE Stuns Markets Artwork

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Episode 278: January WASDE Stuns Markets

January 16, 2026 • DTN/Progressive Farmer • Season 1 • Episode 278

The January WASDE dropped Monday, January 12th, shocking market watchers with an updated U.S. corn crop that’s now a record by an even wider margin. Almost no one expected USDA to add 1.3 million harvested corn acres to the mix on top of a half bushel boost to the national average corn yield, bringing the estimated 2025 U.S. corn crop to over 17 billion bushels.

To help us put this, and all the other updates, into perspective, we’re joined once again by DTN Lead Markets Analyst Rhett Montgomery. He’ll guide us through expectations going into the report to help us understand why markets reacted to the updates the way they did, and to offer insight into where they might go from here.

He’ll also take us beat-by-beat down the national and global balance sheets for the major grains as he tracks the shifting trade picture, updated wheat seeding numbers, and how the latest updates are affecting the basis right now.

Finally, he’ll share what he’s expecting to move the markets between now and the February WASDE.