THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME

Special Report | September 11, 2026

The crop is still big. The cushion is getting smaller.

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Special Report, September eleventh. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: USDA didn’t create a feed shortage today. It took another piece of the cushion away. Corn yield fell two point two bushels to one seventy-eight point five. Production lost two hundred thirteen million bushels. Ending stocks dropped eighty-six million. The farm-price forecast rose thirty cents to four eighty.

HOST: Soybeans made more crop. Meal still went higher.

SHAWN: Production rose to four point five three five billion bushels. Stronger exports pulled stocks to three hundred ten million. Soybeans to twelve dollars. Meal up thirty dollars to three hundred forty a short ton. That is the number poultry and pork cannot overlook. Feed is no longer getting cheaper by default.

HOST: Protein side. Beef production down. Imports up. Chicken still adding pounds.

SHAWN: USDA cut twenty twenty-six beef ninety million pounds and raised imports one hundred thirty million on stronger South American shipments. The quota does not create cattle. It creates another source of lean. Pork production and exports were both trimmed. Chicken twenty twenty-six is still nearly one point six billion pounds above last year — now against a firmer feed outlook.

HOST: The crop is still big.

SHAWN: The cushion is getting smaller. Watch harvest versus one seventy-eight point five. Watch whether three point two seven five billion corn exports hold. Watch meal at three forty. Stay disciplined.

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Shawn Sparks, The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Stay disciplined.