(Agriculture.com) – U.S. farmers will plant 95.262 million acres of corn and 77.756 million acres of soybeans in 2013, according to projections by private analytical firm Informa Economics.Informa’s corn-acreage estimate is down 1.9 million from last year, and 2.02 million below the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s estimate in March of 97.282 million.
Unfavorable spring weather not only resulted in delayed plantings, it also caused a shift in planting intentions, or in some cases, resulted in prevented plantings, Informa said, according to trade sources.
The firm’s soy-acreage forecast is up 558,000 acres from last year, 630,000 acres above the USDA’s March estimate, but down 530,000 from Informa’s May estimate.
Informa’s survey indicated 11.791 million acres of spring wheat and 1.751 million acres will be seeded to durum. Compared with last year, Informa’s other spring wheat estimate is down 4% and durum area is down 17.5%, traders said. The other spring wheat estimate is down 610,000 acres from Informa’s May acreage report and durum estimates are down 150,000 acres, traders said.
All wheat acreage is estimated at 55.5 million acres, which is down 206,000 acres from 2012.
All cotton acreage intentions are estimated at 10.371 million acres, which is down 1.9 million from last year but 345,000 above USDA’s March estimate, traders said.
Rice area is estimated at 2.6 million acres, down 129,000 acres from last year and down 41,000 from USDA’s March estimate, traders said.
The USDA, in its prospective planting report released March 28, projected corn plantings at 97.3 million acres, soybean plantings at 77.1 million acres, spring wheat plantings at 12.7 million acres, durum at 1.8 million and cotton plantings at 10 million. The agency is scheduled to release its planted acreage forecast on June 28.
Last year, U.S. farmers planted 97.2 million acres of corn, 77.2 million acres of soybeans, 12.3 million acres of spring wheat, 2.1 million acres of durum wheat and 12.3 million acres of cotton.
