Farmers and grain elevators are holding on to more corn and soybeans than a year ago, but not as much as analysts had expected as strong demand continues to chew through large supplies of both crops.

Old-crop corn stocks on Sept. 1 totaled 1.74 billion bushels, up slightly from Sept. 1, 2015, according to the USDA’s grain stocks report released last week. The total was just below the pre-report average ...