The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that old-crop corn stocks on hand on September 1, 2026 totaled 2.10 billion bushels. The figure was 35% above the amount recorded on the same date in 2025. Soybeans stored in all positions were down 3% year over year, and all wheat stocks were down 13% in the report’s summary. USDA released the Grain Stocks report on September 30. It measures inventories at a specific date near the close of the 2025/26 marketing year; it is not a final measure of the new harvest or a forecast of prices. A stock figure is a snapshot of stored quantities, not the same measure as production or use over a period.

Of the corn total, 787 million bushels were held on farms, 22% more than a year earlier. Off-farm stocks stood at 1.31 billion bushels, up 44%. USDA also reported indicated disappearance of 3.20 billion bushels for June through August, compared with 3.09 billion bushels during the same months in 2025. The agency uses indicated disappearance as a calculated measure of grain that has left the inventory during the period. Higher stocks and higher indicated disappearance can occur together, so neither number alone establishes whether demand strengthened or weakened. The farm and off-farm breakdown adds information about where recorded stocks were held, but it does not say when owners will sell them or how much will reach a particular market.

Soybean stocks in all positions were 3% below September 1, 2025. All wheat stored in all positions was estimated at 1.85 billion bushels, and the detailed release reported that amount as 14% below a year earlier. On-farm wheat stocks were 547 million bushels, down 21%; off-farm stocks were 1.30 billion, down 10%. USDA’s release summary describes all-wheat stocks as 13% lower, while its detailed quantity section gives 1.85 billion bushels and a 14% decrease. This article uses the detailed wheat comparison and preserves the agency’s differing rounded presentations rather than treating them as separate measurements. The source does not attribute the stock movements to one cause.

The release also revised estimates of production for the completed 2025 season. Corn production was revised down by less than 1%, while soybean production was adjusted slightly lower than previous estimates. USDA says revisions to production estimates are normal in the September report, after the marketing year has ended. These changes should not be confused with the September 1 inventory count. One revises the estimated amount produced in a prior crop year; the other records quantities held on a particular date. Readers comparing production and stocks need to keep the reference periods and definitions distinct. The report provides a national total and storage-location detail, but it does not specify the future pace of sales, exports, processing or feed use.

The Grain Stocks release provides an official starting-inventory snapshot for the new marketing year. It does not indicate when the stored grain will be offered for sale, describe individual farmers’ marketing decisions, or set out regional prices. The faster year-over-year rise in off-farm than on-farm corn stocks is a comparison of storage locations, not proof by itself of a supply surplus or weaker demand. Likewise, the declines in soybean and wheat inventories do not establish that shortages will occur in the next period. Stocks can change as new harvest data and later reports become available. This account is limited to USDA’s published observations and comparisons; it does not infer a price direction or a cause for the movements.