U.S. farmers expect to plant more soybean acreage than corn acreage

Date:03-30-2018


Producers surveyed across the United States intend to plant an estimated 89.0 million acres of soybeans in 2018, down 1 percent from last year, according to the Prospective Plantings report released today by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Planted acreage intentions for soybeans are down or unchanged in 20 of the 31 estimating states. The largest increase is expected in Indiana with 6.10 million acres, an increase of 150,000 acres from 2017. If realized, the planted area of soybeans in Indiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin will be the largest on record.

Corn growers intend to plant 88.0 million acres in 2018, down 2 percent from last year. If realized this will be the lowest planted acreage since 2015. Compared with last year, planted acreage is expected to be down or unchanged in 33 of the 48 states estimated.

The Prospective Plantings report provides the first official, survey based estimates of U.S. farmers’ 2018 planting intentions. NASS’s acreage estimates are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of approximately 82,900 farm operators across the United States. Other key findings in the report are:

• All wheat planted area for 2018 is estimated at 47.3 million acres, up 3 percent from 2017. This represents the second lowest all wheat planted area on record since records began in 1919.
• Winter wheat planted area, at 32.7 million acres, is up slightly from both last year and the previous estimate.
• Area planted to other spring wheat for 2018 is expected to total 12.6 million acres, up 15 percent from 2017.
• Durum wheat is expected to total 2.00 million acres for 2018, down 13 percent from last year.
• All cotton planted area for 2018 is expected to total 13.5 million acres, 7 percent above last year.

NASS today also released the quarterly Grain Stocks report to provide estimates of on-farm and off-farm stocks as of March 1. Key findings in that report include:

• Corn stocks totaled 8.89 billion bushels, up 3 percent from the same time last year. On-farm corn stocks were up 2 percent from a year ago, and off-farm stocks were up 5 percent.
• Soybeans stored totaled 2.11 billion bushels, up 21 percent from March 1, 2017. On-farm soybean stocks were up 28 percent from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were up 17 percent.
• All wheat stored totaled 1.49 billion bushels, down 10 percent from a year ago. On-farm all wheat stocks went down 26 percent from last year, while off-farm stocks went down 6 percent.
• Durum wheat stored totaled 49.2 million bushels, down 7 percent from March 1, 2017. On-farm Durum stocks were down 20 percent from a year ago, while off-farm stocks of Durum wheat were up 14 percent.

The Prospective Plantings, Grain Stocks, and all other NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov