Market News & Headlines >> USDA’s Planting Intentions: Right Direction

Corn acreage is pegged at 96% of last year, with farmers intending to plant 91.69 million acres, down from 95.37 last year. If realized, it will be the lowest planted acreage in the United States since 2010. This compares with USDA’s February non-survey-based estimate of 92 million.

Soybean acreage is pegged at 81.49 million, up 6% from last year’s 76.53 million, compared with USDA’s 79.5 million estimate in February and trade expectations for 81.08 million.

All-wheat acreage is estimated at 55.82 million, 99% of last year. The winter wheat planted area, at 42 million, is down 3% of last year but up slightly from the previous estimate. Hard red winter is 30.2 million; soft red winter, 8.43 and white winter, 3.35 million. Growers plan to plant 12 million acres of spring wheat, up 4% from last year (11.3 million hard red spring and 1.8 million durum).

All cotton acreage is expected to be 11.1 million acres, up 7% from last year, with Upland up 7% at 10.9 while American Pima falls 21% to 158,000, mainly due to the drought in California.