Agricultural News
Most Soybean Acres Ever- and Most Corn Acres Since 1946 Predicted by USDA
Wed, 31 Mar 2010 8:30:12 CDT
Farmers in the US will plant a historic 88.8 million acres of corn this spring, which is the second largest acreage since 1946, along with 78.1 million acres of soybeans, which is the most ever. This jump in acreage for both crops appears to be a response to strong prices for both of these commodities.
The USDA estimate for corn is actually slightly less than what traders were expecting at 89.1 million acres, while the soybean pre report average guesses totalled 78.5 millon acres. Expected corn acreage is up in many States due to reduced winter wheat acreage and expectations of improved net returns. Acreage increases of 300,000 or more are expected in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio. The largest decreases are expected in Iowa, down 200,000 acres, and Texas, down 150,000 acres. If realized, the U.S. planted area into soybeans will be the largest on record. Acreage increases of 100,000 or more are expected in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The largest decreases are expected in Georgia and North Carolina, both 150,000 acres less than 2009. If intentions are realized, the planted acreage in Kansas, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania will be the largest on record.
Cotton acres are also increasing in the US, with USDA projecting 10.505 million acres, 15% more acres than that of a year ago and in line with traders expectations. Growers intend to increase planted area in all States except Arkansas, Kansas, and Louisiana. The largest acreage increase is in Texas where producers intend to plant 600,000 acres more acres of upland cotton than in 2009.
All wheat planted area is estimated at 53.8 million acres, down 9 percent from 2009. The 2010 winter wheat planted area, at 37.7 million acres, is 13 percent below last year but up 2 percent from the previous estimate. Of this total, about 28.3 million acres are Hard Red Winter, 6.0 million acres are Soft Red Winter, and 3.4 million acres are White Winter. Area planted to other spring wheat for 2010 is estimated at 13.9 million acres, up 5 percent from 2009.
For Oklahoma, the hard red winter wheat acreage numbers were down 9% from a year ago. USDA provided us with a canola acreage number for Oklahoma that was planted this past fall- saying the 80,000 acres of canola were planted this past fall compared to 42,000 acres the year before. Corn plantings for the state are projected to be down 15% from a year ago, while soybean acreage expects to be the same level as in 2009.
Click on the listen bar below for the conversation that Ed Richards had with Tom Leffler of Leffler commodities about this report.
Click here for the complete Prospective Plantings report from USDA as issued here on March 31, 2010.
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