Soybean futures jumped to a three- year high on speculation that adverse weather will hamper production in the U.S. and Brazil, the world’s biggest growers. More than a quarter of the Midwest will remain too dry for soybean pods to fill with beans in the next two weeks even after today’s rain in parts of Iowa, northern Illinois and Wisconsin, the Commodity Weather Group LLC said. Lack of precipitation in northern and central Brazil has depleted soil moisture, which is unlikely to be replenished before seeding starts in mid- September, according to Oil World, a Hamburg-based researcher. “Rains are going to miss most of the eastern Midwest, and that means lower yields,” Greg Grow, the director of agribusiness for Archer Financial Services Inc. in Chicago, said by telephone. “People are getting worried that dry weather in Brazil and Argentina will further cut world supplies.” Soybean futures for November delivery rose 10 cents, or 0.7 percent, to close at $14.57 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. The oilseed has gained 4.6 percent in three sessions, the biggest such gain since March 21. Earlier, the price touched $14.585, the highest for the most-active contract since July 2008. Soybeans are the second-biggest U.S. crop, valued in 2010 at $38.9 billion, government figures show. Corn is the biggest at a $66.7 billion. To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net.

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