The ideal 2025 growing season is giving way to the dog days of August, as farmers finally start to see the hot and dry conditions that were expected months ago. With harvest in sight, the rise in temperatures and lack of precipitation is putting a damper on a brilliant season, but also promises to ease harvest, even as it hints at a longer range forecast that’ll impact farmers in the U.S. and around the world.

To help us peek into the weather forecasts for the coming months, we’re joined once again by DTN’s Ag Meteorologist John Baranick. John will bring us up-to-date with the weather picture in each of the key regions of the country, and help us understand what we know about both harvest conditions and the overall situation going into the winter months. We’ll also look back on the summer that’s been, and hear John’s insight on whether the crop in the field is likely to hit the stratospheric numbers put forward by USDA, and what impact late season conditions and disease have on that crop.

Then we’ll expand our focus beyond the corn belt and plains to hear the latest on weather conditions around the world, and what wild cards we’ll be keeping an eye out for that might yet disrupt global supplies and markets.

In the middle of the 2025 DTN Digital Yield Tour, the U.S. Department of Agriculture dropped a bombshell — predicting a record-breaking corn crop in the August WASDE. As the fallout continued throughout the week DTN data scientists, analysts, and reporters were keeping up with the latest data coming not from USDA but directly from the field, just as beans are starting to fill and corn enters its final stages before harvest.

DTN Farm Business Editor Katie Dehlinger was in the thick of it all, connecting with farmers as she published her daily stories on state-by-state conditions across the country.

Katie joins us today to talk more about the yield tour results, going beyond the corn and soybean yield estimate to share what she was hearing about crop conditions in different regions and what growers think might still leave room for numbers to shift. As she takes us through predictions for each state, she’ll offer her insight on what worked and what didn’t during this season, and what farmers she spoke with are thinking about as they reflect on everything from marketing plans to fungicide applications.

Finally, we’ll hear what she’s keeping an eye on as harvest comes into view, and get a first look at the 2025 DTN Ag Summit Event this December.

The August WASDE dropped Aug. 12, stunning the market with a nearly 17 billion bushel corn crop prediction — shattering the previous record. The eye-popping number was helped along by a 188 bushel per acre yield estimate and an additional 2.1 million planted acres over the July figure. This news comes as a summer that was expected to be hot and dry remained persistently mild, and farmers across the country are eyeing excellent looking stands even as prices soften.

To help us understand all the details, DTN Contributing Analyst and longtime veteran of the podcast Todd Hultman joins us today. He’ll walk us through this record forecast and the corresponding demand estimates, helping us keep in mind what wildcards are still at play and what he expects as far as changes that might yet be ahead for the crop itself. Then, he’ll tackle the updates on the soybean crop, which also included a record high yield — though not likely high enough to alter the fundamental supply picture. We’ll also talk through the updates to the wheat side as a bin-busting crop in North Dakota comes into view.

Plus, hear insight on the current and emerging trade situation, think through the weather forecast as we head into harvest, and gain a better understanding of where cost of production sits today relative to price.