April 5, 2010

US soy farmers plan record planting

American farmers expect to plant a record 78.1 million acres of soy in response to high prices for the crops, the government said.

While the survey results point to the prospect of bumper crops, the acreage figures were slightly below trade expectations of 89.2 million acres for corn and 78.5 million acres of soy.

With normal weather and yields, the planting intentions would result in a corn crop of 13.1 billion bushels, roughly equal to the record set last year, and a soy crop of 3.3 billion, just under the 2009 record, according to reports.

In a companion report, the USDA said there were 7.69 billion bushels of corn in warehouses and grain bins on March 1, the largest amount since 1987 and more than was expected by traders. The corn crop was a record 13.1 billion bushels last year.

The USDA's "prospective plantings" report, based on a survey of 86,000 growers, is the first gauge of farmers' intentions.

Farmers would expand corn plantings by 3% from last year with the largest increases in Illinois, the No. 2 corn state after Iowa, and Kansas, each up 600,000 acres. "Expected acreage is up in many states due to reduced winter wheat acreage and expectations of improved net returns," the USDA said.

Soy sowing would be up less than 1% from 2009 to set a record, the USDA said. Plantings in Kansas would increase by 400,000 acres and in Iowa, the No. 1 soy state, by 300,000 acres.

The USDA said growers planned to plant 53.8 million acres of wheat, the smallest since 1970, and 10.5 million acres of cotton, up 15% from last year when plantings fell to a 25-year low. The wheat harvest could total 1.95 billion bushels.

Meanwhile, wet spring weather often prevents farmers from planting corn, so they often make a late decision to switch to soy, said Pat Westhoff, co-director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, a research group.