Despite Historically Low Prices, U.S. Farmers Expanding Corn, Soy Acres
Despite prices on the Chicago Board of Trade hitting their lowest point in a decade, U.S. farmers are expected to significantly increase their corn and soybean acres this season over last year, which was plagued with excessive rain and flooded fields. The five-year average for corn planting is 90.15 million acres, which includes last year’s planting of 89.7 million acres. Soybean acreage for last year topped off at 76.1 million acres - an eight-year low. According to the latest figures issued by the USDA, farmers will likely plant 94 million acres of corn, and 85 million acres of soybeans - figures that were echoed by commodity brokerage and analytics firm Allendale Inc. which estimates planting of 94.631 million acres of corn, and 83.74 million acres for soybeans. U.S. farmers planted 94 million acres of corn in 2016, and if these projections come to pass, it would be the largest corn planting acreage since 2013, when the country saw planting of 95.4 million acres. Soybean planting reached a record high in 2017, when farmers planted 90.2 million acres.
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