Oct 15, 2026
USDA Raises Feed Grain Supply; Board Holds Without New Quotes
No new USDA AMS feedstuffs prices since last week. Sunflower meal holds the protein lead at 68% of soybean meal. USDA ERS raised 2026/27 feed grain supply 10.1 million metric tons to 476.4 million, the second-largest on record.
Numbers as of Oct 15, 2026 pull
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Sunflower meal is the cheapest protein on the board at $0.275 per pound of crude protein on a dry-matter basis, 68% of soybean meal's cost per pound of crude protein, per USDA AMS. No new feedstuffs prices have been published since last week's issue, leaving the leaderboard at its prior reading. USDA's Economic Research Service raised 2026/27 U.S. feed grain supply by 10.1 million metric tons to 476.4 million, the second-largest on record and 3% below the 2025/26 record, led by a 10.3-million-MT increase in corn supply on higher beginning stocks and production, per USDA ERS's Oct 15 Feed Outlook.
- Corn (energy anchor)
- Soybean meal (protein anchor)
- DDGS
- Protein board: Feather meal is the second cheapest protein source at $0.301/lb crude protein (74% of soybean meal) and linseed meal third at $0.365/lb (90%), dry-matter basis per USDA AMS. Nutrient coefficients are book values from published feed tables.
- Energy board: Corn holds the benchmark at $0.109/lb TDN (plant input cost, dry-matter basis). Rice bran is at $0.110/lb TDN (101% of corn) and wheat millrun at $0.115/lb TDN (105%) per USDA AMS, dry-matter basis.
- DDGS: At about $195/ton per USDA AMS, DDGS delivers protein at 91% of soybean meal's cost per pound of crude protein and energy at 113% of corn's cost per pound of TDN, dry-matter basis.
- Soybean meal benchmark: About $385/ton FOB per USDA AMS, unchanged this issue. USDA NASS raised the 2026/27 soybean production forecast 27 million bushels to 4.56 billion on higher yield, with the soybean crush forecast unchanged at 2.78 billion bushels, per USDA ERS's Oct 15 Oil Crops Outlook.
- Sunflowerseed supply: USDA's first 2026/27 sunflowerseed production forecast stands at 2.3 billion pounds, 31 million pounds below 2025/26, per USDA ERS's Oct 15 Oil Crops Outlook. No updated sunflower meal price has been published this issue.
Data note: 48 specific USDA AMS series are stale (no update in over two weeks), including alfalfa pellets (Kansas and Portland, delivered, sun-cured, 15% protein) and almond hulls (California Sacramento, San Joaquin and South, FOB). The stale flag applies to those exact series only.