USDA expects 89.5m acres of corn with soybeans at a record 91m acres this season

HOUSTON (ICIS)–The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its prospective plantings report that it is calculating there will be less corn and more soybeans in 2022.

The agency said corn planted area for all purposes this season is estimated at 89.5m acres, down 4% or 3.87m acres year-on-year.

Compared with 2021, planted acreage is expected to be down or unchanged in 43 of the 48 estimating states.

Soybean planted area for 2022 is estimated at a record 91m acres, up 4% year-on-year with planted acreage projected to be either increased or unchanged in 24 of the 29 estimating states.

For the wheat crop the USDA said planted area for this season is being estimated at 47.4m acres, which is up 1% year-on-year.

If realised, this year’s crop would be the fifth lowest all wheat planted area since records began in 1919.

The 2022 winter wheat planted area is forecasted at 34.2m acres, which is an increase of 2% from last year. Of this total, about 23.7m acres are Hard Red Winter, 6.89m acres are Soft Red Winter, and 3.62m acres are White Winter.

Area expected to be planted to other spring wheat for 2022 is estimated at 11.2m acres, which is down 2% year-on-year.

All cotton planted area for this season is being projected at 12.2m acres, up 9% from last year with the Upland area estimated at 12.1m acres, up 9% year-on-year, while American Pima is estimated at 176,000 acres, up 39% from the 2021 season.

The estimates for the corn crop this season was well below most pre-report expectations and the domestic fertilizer market had yet to react significantly to the planting projections, as there is a firm sentiment that strong corn prices will likely push acreage higher than this initial acreage calculation.

Grain traders were a tad more reactive to the announcement with corn prices in early afternoon trading again trending positively with the December contract at $6.84/bushel, up 37.6 cents.

Heading in the opposite direction was soybeans, which were being pushed down considerably with the November contract at $14.20, down 49.6 cents.