Wednesday, August 12th, 2026- Mike Zuzolo and Dr. Francis Beecher

Mike Zuzolo of Global Commodity Analytics joins Jesse Allen on Market Talk for a full breakdown of the August 2026 WASDE and Crop Production reports. USDA pegged corn yield at 180.7 bushels per acre and soybeans at 52.7, both under the average trade estimate, while adding more than a million acres of harvested area to each crop. Zuzolo's own client survey, released the night before, had corn at 181.0 and beans at 52.7. We cover the USDA modeling change that pulled the agency's numbers in line with private survey work, why Illinois and the western Corn Belt did the damage, the same-day subsoil moisture picture, new-crop corn carryout at 1.653 billion bushels, the deleted USDA tweet and the transparency questions that followed, Black Sea shipping and the rumor that pulled risk premium out of wheat, the feeder-corn ratio, USDA's 2.7 percent cut to third quarter beef production, and the cattle-to-S&P correlation flip. Also in Segment Four, we learn about Bayer's new exclusive licensing agreement with RAGT to bring hybrid wheat into commercialization by the early 2030s. Dr. Francis Beecher with Bayer joins us to discuss on the show.