July 1, 2009
USDA sees spring wheat planted on 13.8 million acres in 2009
Farmers will plant 13.772 million acres of spring wheat this year, up from a March forecast, but less than farmers planted in 2008, the US Department of Agriculture said in a report released Tuesday (June 30).
The new USDA forecast is sharply above what many market analysts expected after unusually cold weather delayed planting this year.
The USDA's March prospective plantings estimate predicted 13.304 million acres and a Dow Jones Newswires survey showed that analysts expected the new USDA forecast to range from 12.826 million acres to 13.404 million.
In 2008, producers seeded 14.135 million acres of spring wheat.
"Planted acreage is above last year's level in Washington, unchanged in South Dakota and lower in all other producing states," the USDA said Tuesday in its annual acreage report. "The largest acreage declines are in Minnesota, Montana and North Dakota, each down 100,000 acres from last year. As of May 31, spring wheat planting progress was behind the five-year average for Idaho, Minnesota, Montana and North Dakota."
