Monsanto sees increased US corn acres, less soy

Global seed giant Monsanto Co. sees planted US corn acres increasing to 88 million acres in 2010 with soy acres slipping to 75 million acres.

According to Monsanto chairman Hugh Grant, in the spring of 2009, US farmers planted 87 million acres of corn, the second-largest amount since 1946, while soy seedings totalled 77.7 million acres last year.

Monsanto, a leader in both the US corn and soy markets, said it is seeing good early demand for its new Genuity SmartStax corn and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soy.

The company reported a quarterly loss earlier instead of the break-even results Wall Street had expected, citing a steep slide in herbicide revenue and a smaller drop in key corn and soy seed sales.