Should You Short Ag Names On Today's Crop Report?

The U.S. Agriculture Department released its crop report earlier this morning, and results came in mixed, but the focus is on corn, which was weaker than expected. Shares of agricultural names are down in early Thursday trading. The USDA sad that 92.3 million acres of corn will be planted this year, as opposed to expectations of 90.776 million. The beans crop came in at 75.2 million acres, versus expectations of 76.476. The size of the wheat crop is 56.4 million acres, versus expectations of 56.6 million acres. This is the second largest corn crop since 1944, with 2007 being the largest crop in U.S. history. As corn prices continue to rise, farmers are planting more, despite the concerns of wet weather around the country. Names like Potash POT, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF, Agrium Inc. AGU and Syngenta AG SYT are a bit weaker this morning on the concerns that more corn is being planted this year, but the concerns will be temporary, and investors may want to use the early morning weakness to add shares, or to initiate positions in some of these names. Investors may also want to consider some of the agricultural-related ETFs, such as Global X Fertilizers/Potash ETF SOIL, PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund DBA, and Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF MOO. Teucrium Corn Fund CORN is another name to consider adding on a pullback, although it is thinly traded, and is subject to wild price swings. The concerns over the corn stock may very well prove to be fleeting, as these names are off the lows of the session as money comes into the names.