Good Morning farm country. Davis Michaelsen here with your morning update for Tuesday June 9. From Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today, these are some of the stories we are watching this morning:

Corn and soybean futures are trading midrange and down a penny or two. SRW wheat futures are 3 to 4 cents lower, while HRW wheat is steady to a penny lower. HRS wheat futures are posting losses around 2 cents. The greenback is slightly higher today after posting its longest slide in nearly a decade. Crude oil futures are under pressure after a deal by OPEC and its allies to extend production cuts was offset by the prospect of increased output from Libya and U.S. shale producers.

Following are some highlights from USDA’s crop progress and condition update for the week ending May 31, 2020. 

• Corn: 97% planted, 89% emerged, 75% “good” to “excellent” (G/E)
• Soybeans: 86% planted, 67% emerged, 72% G/E
• Spring wheat: 97% planted, 81% emerged, 82% G/E
• Cotton: 78% planted, 13% squaring, 43% G/E 
• Winter wheat: 85% headed, 7% harvested, 51% G/E

Crop Consultant Dr. Michael Cordonnier issued an initial corn crop projection of 15.65 billion bu. for the U.S. based on a planted acreage estimate of 94.5 million acres and an average yield estimate of 179.5 bu. per acre, which is a bushel above trendline. He is starting the 2020 season with a U.S. soybean production peg of 4.29 billion bushels, using a 51 bu. per acre yield projection and a planted acreage estimate of 85 million, 99% of which he expects to be harvested.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said that as of midday Monday, approximately 34.02% of the current oil production in the Gulf of Mexico remains shut-in and approximately 35.14% of the natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico is shut-in. They also said that personnel were still evacuated from 179 production platforms, or 22.84% of the 643 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. With Tropical Storm Cristobal now well inland and moving up into the Midwest, focus will quickly shift to bringing the shut-in production back on line.

EPA on Monday evening said it is canceling registrations for dicamba formulations in line with a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. However, EPA said farmers and commercial applicators can still spray dicamba on crops, but only if they had the chemicals in their possession on June 3, the date of the ruling. The chemical can only be used until July 31.

Requests by governors of several states to waive requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard should be rejected as they would “only compound the challenges facing rural America and weaken one of the most successful clean air policies in the U.S.,” a bipartisan coalition of House members said in a letter to President Donald Trump.

Monday’s cattle kill pushed up to 117,000 head, just 2,000 head shy of year-ago levels and a better recovery than many anticipated given new safety procedures for workers. As processing picked up, beef prices have fallen, though they are still at historically elevated levels. Monday’s hog  kill of 445,000 head was down 25,000 head from year-ago but up 37,000 head from last Monday. Pork packers have plenty of incentive to get processing back to normal, with cutting margins of more than $71 a head.

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