Grain Traders Lash Out After USDA Trumpets Flawed Corn Data

(Bloomberg) -- Grain-market watchers lashed out at the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the agency on Wednesday tweeted that farmers planted 91.7 million acres of corn this year, citing data that many traders believe is inaccurate.

While corn has long been the most widely grown U.S. crop, producers this year struggled to get seeds in the ground amid record spring rainfall. The USDA in its annual acreage report on June 28 signaled that its seeding forecast was incomplete, saying that its figures included acreage for which 17% of the land hadn’t yet been sown at the time of data collection. The agency also announced a resurvey of planted area, with the results to be published on Aug. 12.

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With the USDA itself pointing out a flaw in the data and volatility in the market surging because of the uncertainty, traders found the tweet and accompanying press release to be a bit tone deaf. The USDA didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail and email seeking comment.

“Wow this is unbelievable,” Jason Britt, president of Central States Commodities in Kansas City, Missouri, wrote on Twitter, one of several replies deriding the agency. “How can you be so incompetent?”

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Hirtzer in Chicago at mhirtzer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Millie Munshi, Christine Buurma

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