The WASDE Report, short for World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, is a monthly consensus forecast for farm commodities. It is prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture through the World Agricultural Outlook Board. Commodity committees do the work, with 9 teams chaired by Board analysts with AMS, ERS, FSA and FAS staff.
It covers United States and world wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds and cotton, with United States sugar, meat, poultry, eggs and milk, and Mexico sugar. The report is not a farmer survey and not a crop count, which belongs to the Crop Production report. It is not a price index but projects quantities and a season average farm price tied to supply and use.
Market users treat the report as a benchmark for other farm forecasts. It does not count fields or survey farmers, but builds consensus without adopting any source alone.
The Board releases the report each month, with 12 releases per year, between 8 and 12 at noon Eastern Time. Analysts build forecasts over 2 weeks and freeze inputs on release morning inside a lockup. The lockup seals doors and blocks phones and network, and release is simultaneous for all users.
The release that opens the new marketing year presents forecasts for the new marketing year, while other releases revise only the same marketing year. The Crop Production report arrives the same morning in key months, with outlook reports and circulars after, plus a briefing and machine formats. Each marketing year figure is a forecast revised as new information arrives, with side by side projection columns and later errata when needed. Shutdowns or shifting source reports can delay or remove a release.
Forecasts move when supply, use or stocks change for each commodity, with farm price linking supply and use.
United States and world stocks can move opposite ways in a cycle, and a use revision can drive the headline without a production change. Lower ending stocks and a lower stocks-to-use ratio point to a higher price projection, and higher stocks point the other way, with no fixed thresholds.
A note matters. The report is not a farmer survey or crop count but a consensus forecast from many sources, without adopting any source alone.
No historical data available
