July 2, 2007

US corn output will be more than expected this year on strong ethanol demand
 

US farmers, reacting to strong demand from the ethanol industry, overcame weather delays and planted even more corn this year than government surveyors predicted earlier on, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a new report released Friday (June 29).

Farmers, who the USDA said Friday are already 99 percent done planting, will sow a total of 92.9 million acres of corn this year, about a 3 percent increase from the USDA's March forecast and 19 percent more than farmers planted last year.

Corn acreage this year is on track to be the largest in 63 years when 95.5 million acres was planted in 1944, the USDA said in the report released by the department's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

"Corn planted acreage is up from last year in nearly all states as favorable prices, driven by growing demand from ethanol and strong export sales, provided farmers with incentive to plant more acres to corn," the USDA said.

Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and North Dakota will plant corn on more acreage than ever before, according to the Friday report.

It was "wet conditions" in the Corn Belt and the Great Plains that delayed planting early on in March and April, the USDA said, but farmers planted quickly to make up lost time.

"Despite the weather related delays, growers made rapid progress and planting was completed ahead of the average pace," the USDA said in the report.