USDA sees more planted acres this spring

USDA sees more planted acres this spring

Farm and Ranch February 25, 2011 USDA’s chief economist Joe Glauber says the department is expecting some fairly large price increases for major field crops over the next year. And so Glauber says for crops like wheat, corn, soybeans and cotton;

Glauber: “We are looking for an additional 9.8 million acres coming into production in 2011.”

A big increase but apparently it will be new acreage not a swap out between crops. Glauber says it is early to predict but he did anyway ahead of USDA’s Outlook Conference yesterday.

Glauber: “Corn we are expecting an additional four million acres or so. So 92-million acres.” 06

But unlike past years these corn acres are not expected to come out of current soybean acres. For beans Glauber says;

Glauber: “Actually we are forecasting about a 600-thousand acre increase in plantings.”

USDA sees U.S. wheat acreage at 57 million a 3.4 million acre increase over last year.

If USDA’s early forecast of 255 million acres planted to the eight major crops comes true, it will be the highest total since 1998. We will get the results of a farmer survey of planting intentions for the spring from USDA at the end of March in the Planting Intensions report. That report itself, along with weather and market prices, can change what farmers actually plant. A report on actual planted acreage won’t be out until late June.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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