A joint survey of planting intentions released by Professional Farmers (ProFarmer) and Dorn shows that U.S. corn acreage will increase and soybean acreage will be largely stable in 2023.
The survey results show that this year’s U.S. corn acreage is expected to be 92.1 million acres, up 3.5 million acres from last year, and soybean acreage is expected to be 87.4 million acres, down 100,000 acres from the previous year.
All wheat acreage reached 49.6 million acres, 4.9 million acres more than last year, including spring wheat and Durum wheat acreage is estimated at 12.7 million acres, 1.6% more than the previous year. Cotton acreage is estimated at 11.2 million acres, down nearly 2.6 million acres from the previous year.
In the Midwest’s corn-growing belt, participating farmers expect a bumper corn crop this year because of improved soil moisture in water-scarce areas and firm spot prices. Local demand for corn is strong and corn prices are more attractive than soybeans, said Minnesota farmer Kevin Papp. Corn yields will also be a little better than with soybeans, so he estimates that corn planted area will increase this year. Iowa farmer Rey Giselle said he will continue to use a half-to-half rotation (50-50 corn and soybeans). Corn acreage in southwest Iowa is likely to be slightly higher than it has been in the past few years. Those farmers who were able to apply fertilizer in the fall have decided to plant corn. South Dakota farmer Tim Ostrem said that the price ratio of corn and soybeans is favorable to corn planting, and the falling fertilizer prices have will also attract farmers to plant some more corn. Now the price of urea has fallen.
In the hard red winter wheat production area, farmers planted 2.2 million more acres of wheat last fall. The dry weather and higher wheat yields have prompted farmers to switch to hard red winter wheat in some cotton fields. We tried our best not to change our rotation, but planted more wheat last fall; we’ll probably plant more double-season soybeans, but corn acreage remained essentially steady, said Kansas farmer Dan Witt. In the southeastern U.S., soft red winter wheat acreage is up 1.3 million acres from last year. These wheats will likely be planted to soybeans after harvest.
The biggest key variable at this point is weather, which could delay spring planting in the north, thus limiting the size of spring wheat, durum wheat and corn plantings and prompting farmers to switch to more soybeans. Minnesota farmer Tom Hager said too much snow fell locally this winter. Spring planting prospects depend heavily on spring weather. Excessive precipitation also occurred in the eastern corn growing belt, which may make it difficult for farmers to plant more corn.
Source: Boise Guru
Post time: Apr-12-2023