AGSIST DAILY · ISSUE #211 · ARCHIVE
Saturday, October 10, 2026
↔ Mixed WEEKEND EDITION

Corn drops nearly 4% Friday on WASDE; cattle hold the gains

Corn settled at $4.80 Friday, down almost 20 cents, after WASDE numbers came in heavier than the trade wanted. Cattle didn't blink, closing at $224.60, up 1.2% on the week. Every bushel still in the bin is worth less than it was Thursday morning.

Harvest price clock

Corn harvest price so far: $5.01 vs $4.62 projected (+8.4%), 7 of 22 trading days in.

Soybeans harvest price so far: $12.89 vs $11.09 projected (+16.2%), 5 of 22 trading days in.

USDA RMA, as of Oct 9. Oct 1-31 window, most states. Harvest price tracker →

Quotes as of 1:46 PM CT Fri · change vs Thu close · CME futures, delayed
THE NUMBER
93%
soybean meal's spot in its 52-week range
Meal sits near the top of its yearly range even as corn and wheat got cut hard Friday.
Corn takes the WASDE hitHIGH CONVICTION
  • Corn fell 19¾ cents to $4.80, down 3.9% on the day, after Friday's WASDE report leaned heavier than expected.
  • Oats dropped with it, off 3.1% to $4.20, and Chicago wheat lost 1.8% to $6.71, so the cut wasn't corn alone.
Corn absorbed the bad number; beans shrugged it off entirely.
Cattle and feeders close the week strongMEDIUM CONVICTION
  • Live cattle closed at $224.60, up 1.2%, and feeders gained 1.7% to $343.90.
  • The Cargill lockout, running since May 19, still has roughly 6,000 head a day of processing capacity off the table, and packer margins rather than cattle supply remain the squeeze.
Cattle keep climbing on tight processing capacity, not a bigger herd.
THIS WEEK'S WATCH LIST
  • Monday 3:00 p.m. CTCrop Progress report. Corn and soybean harvest pace matters more than usual after Friday's WASDE cut.
  • OngoingCorn back above $4.90 would say Friday's drop was overdone; staying under $4.80 says the market believed it.
  • Thursday 7:30 a.m. CTExport sales. A soybean number over 1.5 MMT would back up the strength that shrugged off WASDE.
WEEK AHEAD IN AGComing up next week.
DISEASE
HPAI confirmed in two Washington dairy herds
APHIS confirmed H5 avian flu in two Washington dairy herds Friday, the latest reminder the virus hasn't left the dairy sector.
Written by Sigurd Lindquist, founder. Reply at sig@farmers1st.com. I read everything.
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USDA WASDE, CME settlement data, APHIS, EIA · Compiled 5:54 AM CT Sat
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