WASHINGTON — Farmers surveyed across the United States intend to plant an estimated 89 million acres of soybeans in 2018, down 1 percent from last year, according to the Prospective Plantings report released March 29 by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
Planted acreage intentions for soybeans are down or unchanged in 20 of the 31 estimating states.
The largest increase is expected in Indiana with 6.10 million acres, an increase of 150,000 acres from 2017.
If realized, the planted area of soybeans in Indiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin will be the largest on record.
Pa. growers intend to plant an estimated record 600,000 acres of soybeans in 2018, up 2 percent from the previous record set in 2017.
Ohio growers expect to plant slightly fewer acres to beans in 2018, 4.85 million, than in 2017, when 5.1 million acres went into soybeans.
Corn acreage
Nationally, corn growers intend to plant 88 million acres in 2018, down 2 percent from last year. If realized this will be the lowest planted acreage since 2015.
Planted acreage for 2018 is expected to be down or unchanged from 2017 across most of the major corn-producing states, with the exception of Ohio, which is expecting an increase in acreage from last year. Ohio growers said they expect to plant 3.45 million acres, up from 3.4 million planted last year.
Other key findings in the report are:
- All wheat planted area for 2018 is estimated at 47.3 million acres, up 3 percent from 2017. This represents the second lowest all wheat planted area on record since records began in 1919.
- Winter wheat planted area, at 32.7 million acres, is up slightly from both last year and the previous estimate.
- All cotton planted area for 2018 is expected to total 13.5 million acres, 7 percent above last year.
Grain stocks
NASS also released the quarterly Grain Stocks report to provide estimates of on-farm and off-farm stocks as of March 1.
Corn stocks totaled 8.89 billion bushels, up 3 percent from the same time last year. On-farm corn stocks were up 2 percent from a year ago, and off-farm stocks were up 5 percent.
Soybeans stored totaled 2.11 billion bushels, up 21 percent from March 1, 2017. On-farm soybean stocks were up 28 percent from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were up 17 percent.
All wheat stored totaled 1.49 billion bushels, down 10 percent from a year ago. On-farm all wheat stocks went down 26 percent from last year, while off-farm stocks went down 6 percent.
Hay production
Producers intend to harvest 53.7 million acres of all hay in 2018, down less than 1 percent from 2017. If realized, this will represent the second lowest total hay harvested area since 1908, only behind 2016.
Decreases of 100,000 acres or more are anticipated in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Ohio.
NASS’ acreage estimates are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of approximately 82,900 farm operators across the United States.
