Last week’s USDA prospective plantings report surprised with a lower-than-expected estimate of new-crop US corn acres, while projected soybean area came in just about as traders predicted.
As shown on the maps below from the American Farm Bureau, 38 of the 48 surveyed states showed a reduction in corn intentions for this year, while 22 of the 29 soybean-producing states indicated an increase in acres compared to a year earlier.
For corn, the Mississippi Delta region and the South in general had the largest reduction on a percentage basis. Meanwhile, Minnesota had the largest reduction in corn acres, falling 700,000 or 8.1%.
North Dakota had the largest intended increase in soybean acres, up 700,000 or 11.3% from last year.
While corn showed the largest fall in acres from 2023 – down 4.6 million - winter wheat (2.6 million), hay (1.3 million), sorghum (800,000) and barley (535,000) each showed declines of more than 500,000 acres. Among crops gaining acres, soybeans dominated, gaining 2.9 million acres, followed by cotton (443,000) and durum wheat (352,000).
On a percentage basis, durum wheat (+21%) and sunflowers (-27.2%) showed the largest swings among all principal crops.
