U.S. corn growers have reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) that they plan to plant more corn than previously expected this year. NASS released its Prospective Plantings report yesterday indicating that corn growers intend to plant 93.6 million acres to corn, for all purposes this year, up 6 percent from last year and up 3 percent from 2014. If realized, this will represent the third highest planted acreage in the United States since 1944.
Compared with last year, planted acreage is expected to be up or unchanged in 41 of the 48 estimating states. The increase in planted acres is mainly due to the expectation of higher returns in 2016 compared with other crops, NASS said. Growers in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and North Dakota expect to increase their corn acreage by 400,000 or more acres this year.
The Prospective Plantings report provides the first official, survey-based estimates of U.S. farmers’ 2016 planting intentions. NASS’s acreage estimates are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of more than 84,000 farm operators across the United States. Producers are surveyed several weeks before major Midwest states are in full swing planting corn, so the NASS estimates could change.
Futures markets quickly reacted to the NASS report and the May 2016 through March 2017 corn contracts dropped by 15 cents to 16 cents per bushel.
If the weather cooperates, the national average price received by farmers will decline year-over-year for corn sold in the 2016-17 marketing year. The national average corn price received by farmers in 2015-16 is projected near $3.55 per bushel; the new crop could easily bring 40 cents to 50 cents per bushel less, according to The Daily Livestock Report, published by Steve Meyer & Len Steiner, Inc.
U.S. soybean growers expect to reverse the recent trends, which saw several record-high years. In 2016, growers expect to plant 82.2 million acres to soybeans, a less than one percent decrease from 2015. In Louisiana, Minnesota, and Mississippi, growers expect to decrease their soybean acreage by 200,000 acres or more this year. Despite the overall decrease in acreage, growers in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin expect to see record-high soybean acreages in their states.
The Prospective Plantings is available online at www.nass.usda.gov.
