USDA: Farmers Planting Fewer Corn Acres in 2018

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the Prospective Plantings report, indicating that farmers will plant 88-million acres, 2.14 million fewer acres of corn, a 2 percent decrease from 2017. If realized, this will be the lowest total corn planted acreage in the United States since 2015.

“U.S. farmers continue to produce more bushels per acre as new technologies are brought to the marketplace,” said National Corn Growers Association President Kevin Skunes. “American corn supplies remain ample as we have a large carryover crop from 2017. U.S. farmers can react nimbly to market conditions and make decisions that make the most sense for their operation.”

Ohio is expected to increase corn acreage from last year, with record high acreage in Nevada and Oregon. In 33 of the 48 corn producing states, planted acreage is expected to be down or unchanged. According to the report, compared to 2017, decreases of 300,000 acres or more are expected in Kansas, Minnesota and North Dakota.

In the Grain Stocks report, which was also released today, USDA shows corn stocks up 3-percent from this time last year, totaling 8.89 billion bushels. Five-billion bushels of total stocks were stored on-farm, up 2-percent from March 2017 and off-farm stocks were up 5-percent from a year ago. USDA reports 3.68 billion bushels of total corn used between December 2017 – February 2018.

To view the full Prospective Plantings report, click here.

For the full Grain Stocks report, click here.