At the end of the day, the angst surrounding the numbers to come from a bevy of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)  last week didn’t provide much agony. Still, there wasn’t much we would call friendly in the 2019 production estimates, nor the catch-up on the export sales.

The news led off Thursday with a presentation from USDA Chief Economist Robert Johannson at the agency’s Agricultural Outlook Forum. While some were looking for his...