April 1, 2013
US farmers plan to sow 97.3 million acres of corn this year, the most since 1936.
This is according to the USDA's spring planting survey on Thursday (Mar 21).
The overall corn acreage forecast is up slightly from last year's 97.2 million acres and reflects a shift in where the grain is grown. Acreage in some states hit hardest by last year's drought retreated, while Southern states such as Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas are shifting cotton acres to corn.
Chad Hart, an agriculture economist at Iowa State University, said Texas is a prime example. The state is changing more than one million acres normally planted in cotton for corn. Farmers there are in desperate need of grain to feed livestock after two years of debilitating drought, and are betting on a corn crop to replenish feed, Hart said.
Corn remains profitable, as prices are holding strong at around US$7 per bushel because drought conditions left the grain in short supply. Corn stocks fell 10% from a year ago to 5.40 billion bushels, the lowest March stockpiles since 2003, the USDA said in a separate report Thursday.
Corn prices fell Thursday after the report was released, as it showed there was 7% more corn stockpiled than expected. Record corn acreage is expected in Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, and Oregon. Iowa, the nation's leading corn producer, will plant an estimated 14.2 million acres in corn, the same as last year. And Minnesota is up 3% to nine million acres.
But the states that suffered significantly during last year's drought - the worst since the 1950s - expect to plant slightly less corn acreage: Illinois' acres are down 5% to 12.2 million and Nebraska corn acres are down 1% at 9.9 million acres.
Brad Tank, a farmer near the western Iowa town of Blencoe, said he expects to plant his normal mix of half corn and half soy on his 685 acres.
The USDA report addressed other crops, too, including soy. Farmers plan to plant 77.1 million acres - a small decline from 2012's 77.2 million acres but still the fourth highest on record.
Compared with last year, soy acreage intentions are down across all of the Great Plains, with the exception of North Dakota, as drought conditions have persisted. However, increases in planted area across most of the eastern Corn Belt and parts of the Southeast nearly balance out the plains' declines.
If the estimates come to fruition, the planted soy areas in New York, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania will be the largest on record. Iowa soy acres are expected to rise 1% to 9.4 million acres, while Illinois is up 4% to 9.4 million. Nebraska is expected to see soy acres fall about 6% to 4.7 million.
Darrel Good, an agriculture economics professor at the University of Illinois, said with plenty of land available for planting, the weather now becomes a focal point.
Darin Von Ruden, a Wisconsin dairy farmer who milks about 50 cows, tries to grow as much of his own corn for feed as he can. But last year's drought was so severe that he had to chop up more cornstalks than he wanted to for feed. Von Ruden was encouraged by the USDA projection, but remains cautious and concerned that the drought could persist.
Growers in portions of the Corn Belt have had reason for optimism in recent weeks as storms pummelled the nation's midsection with snow, in some cases more than a foot deep. As spring planting season nears, much of that has melted off, which has boosted soil moisture and raised levels of rivers that often serve as irrigation sources. But temperatures remain below normal throughout much of the Midwest. Missouri is weathering its coldest March in at least 17 years, and frozen soil persists in east-central Iowa and south-western Wisconsin.
The US Drought Monitor's weekly report said Thursday that roughly half of the continental US remains in some form of drought, with the most pronounced dryness lingering in the key Midwestern farm states.
Some 96 % of Nebraska as of Tuesday was gripped by extreme or exceptional drought - the two worst classifications - as was one-fifth of Iowa and nearly two-thirds of Kansas.
