Company uses satellite imagery to judge crops

A Chicago-based information company, Lanworth, Inc., is using twice-daily satellite images to look at crops.

With their technology and methodology, company officials hope Lanworth becomes a common name for pre-USDA forecasts.

Lanworth estimates the 2007 U.S. corn yield at 13.11 billion bushels and soybeans at 2.58 billion bushels. Their data was released five days before USDA released the official Oct. 12 report.

USDA's Oct. 12 numbers were 13.3 billion bushels for corn and 2.60 billion bushels for soybeans.

USDA's numbers were lower than some market analysts expected. (...continue article)