Austin Schroeder at Barchart.com said, “Corn prices are off to an early rally on Thursday, with contracts up 5 to 6 cents. Futures rallied into the Wednesday close, as contracts were up 8 to 10 cents in most front months, with deferreds fractionally to 5 ¼ cents. Open interest saw an exit of September (-18,244), with the rest of the board up a combined 13,993 contracts.” Amanda Brill at Total Farm Marketing said, “Yesterday, the Pro Farmer tour was in Illinois and western Iowa and found more disappointing yields. For Illinois, the corn yields based on 217 samples averaged at 184.19 bpa which compares to 199.57 bpa at this time last year. This is down 8%, and the USDA is only projecting yields in the state to fall by 1% from the previous year.”