Prospective Plantings Indicate More Soybean Acres

(Agrinews) – Farmers indicated to the U.S. Department of Agriculture that they will plant more soybeans and less corn and wheat this year.

Based on prospective plantings farmer surveys from USDA, growers intend to plant a record 89.5 million soybean acres in 2017, up 7 percent from last year.

Compared with last year, planted acreage intentions are up or unchanged in 27 of the 31 estimating states. Increases of 500,000 acres or more are anticipated in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Nebraska.

If realized, the planted area in Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin will be the largest on record

Growers intend to plant 90 million acres of corn for all purposes in 2017, down 4 percent from last year, but 2 percent higher than in 2015, according to the survey

Planted acreage for 2017 is expected to be down across most of the major corn producing states with the exception being Kansas, which is expecting an increase in acreage from last year.

Record high acreage is expected in Nevada and Oregon. Record low acreage is expected in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

“The reduction in corn planted acres is mainly due to the expectation of lower returns compared with other crops in 2017,” the USDA noted in the report.

The 2017 winter wheat planted area is estimated at 32.7 million acres, down 9 percent from 2016, but up 1 percent from the previous estimate. This represents the second lowest planted acreage on record.

States with notable acreage decreases from the previous year are Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas. Record low acreage is estimated for Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey and Ohio.

Of the total acreage, about 23.8 million acres are hard red winter, 5.53 million acres are soft red winter and 3.38 million acres are white winter.

‘I’ Soybeans

Indiana, Illinois and Iowa farmers intend to plant more soybeans this year. A record 6 million acres of soybeans could be planted in Indiana this year, 6 percent more than last year’s 5.65 million planted acres.

Illinois is projected to include 10.2 million soybean acres, tops in the nation and 100,000 more than 2016, but below the record 10.6 million soybean acres in 1998. USDA reported Iowa is projected to plant 10.1 million soybean acres, 600,000 above last year’s total