A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) planting report released yesterday points to bumper crops for corn, beans and cotton.
The report’s estimates showed acres of planted corn and soybeans at near historic highs, boosting the estimates even higher than figures released in March.
The planted corn area is estimated at 94.1 million acres, up 500,000 acres from the March projection and 7 percent from last year’s actual plantings. This would be the third-highest planted acreage since 1944, according to Agri-Pulse.
The report, released by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, estimated soybean acreage at 83.7 million acres, the highest ever. That’s up 1.5 million acres from the March projection and a 1 percent increase from last year.
Wheat planted acreage was down 7 percent from 2015 at 50.8 million acres. Cotton acreage is estimated at 10 million acres, up 17 percent.
The report, according to Agri-Pulse, added about 3.3 million total acres from the March estimates for corn, soybeans and wheat.
Estimates in the report were based on farmer surveys taken the first two weeks in June, while the March report surveyed farmer intentions.
Dan Roose with U.S. Commodities told Agri-Pulse that it will be important to watch how weather affects prices going forward.