It is not only the precious metals market that the giant squid is manipulating. As noted below, the USDA just magically found 300 million bushels of corn and the relatively quiet farmers are absolutely furious.

Regards - VHF

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The USDA Has Succeeded In Losing All Credibility

Eric deCarbonnel

October 5, 2010

The USDA “finds” 300 million bushels of corn!

Fox Business reports that large U.S. corn stocks to cushion crop downturn.

(emphasis mine) [my comment]

Large U.S. corn stocks to cushion crop downturn
Published September 30, 2010
By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - The U.S. corn stockpile hit its largest level in four years as the autumn harvest opened in September, serving as a buffer against a smaller-than-expected crop that has driven prices to two-year highs.

The stockpile on Sept. 1 totaled 1.708 billion bushels, the government said Thursday, SURPASSING EXPECTATIONS BY 21 PERCENT OR 296 MILLION BUSHELS. [MAGIC! USDA has “found” 300 million bushels of corn!]

Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell sharply after the report, closing below $5 a bushel for the first time in two weeks. Don Roose, analyst with U.S. Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa, called the figure "a bearish shocker" and "a big cushion for a shortfall this year ... Now you can handle a lower yield."

The U.S. Agriculture Department forecasts a crop of 13.16 billion bushels for 2010, a record but smaller than it estimated earlier in the year. Earlier this month, it lowered its estimate of corn yields by 2.5 bushels an acre.

Early-harvest reports have indicated poorer yields than expected.

…
A USDA economist said USDA designs its survey to count only old-crop corn in tallying the corn surplus.
…

The Des Moines register reports about Massacre in the pits!

Massacre in the pits!
Blog post by Dan Piller • dpiller@desmoine.gannett.com • October 1, 2010

Corn took its biggest one-day drop since April, falling 30 cents per bushel Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade to $4.65 for the December contract. Just a week ago corn reached a two-year high of $5.25 on worries that supplies this year would be tight.

But the USDA yesterday increased its carryover of old corn stocks by 300 MILLION BUSHELS to 1.7 billion …
…
Brad Parks, deputy director of the USDA’s statistics service, said he was confident in the accuracy of the survey.

“We surveyed 2,300 farmers in Iowa from Sept. 1 through Sept. 14 and we asked each one twice, about their old crop storage,” Park said.

He added “we were aware of the early planting and early harvest, so we knew going in that there would be the possibility of early corn on hand, so we made doubly sure that the count was accurate.”
…

Farmer reactions to the Magical 300 million bushel find

Now lets look at farmer reactions to the USDA’s 300 million bushel surprise, from talk.newagtalk.com.

the USDA is one of two things... Corrupt or Incompetent

illiniwek
Posted 10/1/2010 14:52 (#1380706)
Subject: OCT. REPORT or any usda report....................

After this fiasco october stocks report, WHY IN THE HELL WOULD A GRAIN FARMER EVER PARTICIPATE IN ANOTHER SURVEY? This is totally 8gfk%#*. Reminds me of the Hillary Clinton 100k profit from the old days. To suddenly find 300 million bushels of corn in 90 days is slapping the farmers in the face. Screw them, I will never, ever participate in a survey and give them a chance to know my business again! … What other business owner in the US gives out private information other than us? It might take until December now before the minimum wage usda bean counters can figure out on their OWN that this corn crop sucks. 155 or less.

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Illinoisfan
Posted 10/1/2010 15:01 (#1380713 - in reply to #1380706)
Subject: Re: OCT. REPORT or any usda report....................

I completely agree. Total market manipulation.

They have done exactly what they wanted to do - drive the market down to avoid paying huge subsidies from crop insurance.

They won't lower the yield in the October report either. They'll keep the market down and then finally publish the correct numbers in March after most people have sold this year's crop.

Sad- Anyone who thinks the USDA is a 100% legitimate organization NEEDS TO HAVE HIS HEAD EXAMINED.

My reaction: The explanation to 300 million bushels of corn is that the USDA is including early harvested corn from the southern Delta into its quarterly inventory.

For the record, the early harvest this year is the reason prices didn’t reach panic level, despite the missing supply from last year’s “record harvest”. Because the 2010 harvest came in more than a month early, the 2009 crop only had to last less than eleven months, which it didn’t quite managed to do. Make no mistake, the US was running short at the end of this summer, as evident in the soaring prices since June.

However, while it did buy the USDA a little time, this year’s smaller, earlier harvest did not push back the food crisis until next year. The shortages this summer badly damaged, if not destroyed, the USDA’s credibility, which dramatically alters dynamics in agricultural markets.

Prices aren’t going back down. The supply and demand picture is too skewed in favor of farmers, and they know it (look at comments above). A significant portion of the 2009/2010 harvest is going to be held back by farmers waiting for the higher prices, which they know are coming. Similarly, end users also know that the USDA’s numbers aren’t there, and will be very aggressive buyers in the face of future higher prices. With its credibility in tatters and the supply/demand completely out of balance (with everyone knowing it too), the USDA has lost control of the market.

The USDA's magical 300 million bushel find is proof of how close we are to the end. That USDA would sacrifice what little credibility it has left is evidence of desperation.

Agricultural commodities are heading higher and soon. The 2010 food crisis, which began with the shortages this summer, will continue to intensify going into the end of the year, leading to panic and chaos.