(Reuters) – U.S. farmers will boost soybean plantings to a record 86.052 million acres this spring and reduce sowings of corn to the lowest in five years, according to a survey of growers released on Wednesday by Illinois-based research and brokerage firm Allendale Inc.
The soybean sowings, if realized, would exceed last year’s record plantings of 83.701 million acres and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s initial forecast last month of 83.5 million acres, the survey showed.
USDA will release its annual prospective plantings report that is based on surveys of tens of thousands of farmers on March 31.
Allendale’s survey, based on growers in 30 U.S. states, said farmers would seed 88.508 million acres of corn, down from 90.597 last year and USDA’s estimate in February of 89.0 million acres. The corn plantings would be smallest since the 2010/11 marketing season.
Wheat acreage was pegged at 56.678 million acres, below the USDA estimate last year of 56.822, according to Allendale. USDA in January estimated winter wheat plantings at 40.452 million acres. Allendale estimated durum wheat seedings at 1.723 million acres and other spring wheat varieties at 14.503 million acres, both above last year.
Based on the acreage estimates and trend-line yields, Allendale pegged implied crop production at 13.393 billion bushels of corn, 3.858 billion bushels of soybeans and 2.210 billion bushels of wheat.
