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Record Beans, Lower Corn in New Acreage Report

Cindy Zimmerman

USDAThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates 85.1 million acres of soybeans planted in the United States this year, up two percent from last year and setting a new record high. In contrast, growers planted an estimated 88.9 million acres to corn, the lowest corn acreage since 2010.

Record high soybean planted acreage is estimated in Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. However, planting delays in Missouri may change the numbers and USDA is planning to resurvey. The latest crop progress report shows Missouri soybean planting is only 62 percent complete, about 30 percent behind average. Planting is also behind in Arkansas and Kansas. To ensure accurate final estimates for all crops, NASS will resurvey growers in these states and if the new data shows any changes to the current estimates, NASS will publish updated estimates in its Crop Production report on August 12.

All cotton planted area for 2015 is estimated at 9.0 million acres, down 18 percent from last year and the lowest cotton acreage in the United States since 1983. A significant percentage of cotton acres also remained to be planted due to weather in Texas, which representing 58 percent of total U.S. acreage.

All wheat planted area for 2015 is estimated at 56.1 million acres, down one percent from 2014.

Louise Gartner of Spectrum Commodities analyzed both the Planted Acreage report and the Grain Stocks report in today’s Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) crop report conference call. MGEX crop report commentary call

Audio, Corn, Cotton, Soybean, USDA, Wheat