"Not exactly, they’re owned by ADM."
You morons obviously spend too much time "conspiracy theorizing". ADM and other corn producers (aka "big corn")use the statistics gathered by the USDA in their planning processes just like everyone else does. If the statistics are wrong, then their plans will be wrong too. The USDA has got to deliver good numbers to ALL their customers, both producers and consumers (consumers in this case being the folks who process ag products into final food products).