Farmer planting decisions this spring will have a major impact on commodity markets and on the opening day of the USDA ag outlook forum one USDA analyst issued his forecast for plantings. The big question this time of year is how much of what crops farmers will plant this spring, and at the forum Thursday USDA chief economist Joe Glauber came out with the first guestimates on spring planning.
“We’re estimating corn plantings at about 94 million acres, the largest plantings since 1944,” he said. “We’re projecting soybean area at 75 million acres. That’s very similar to last year’s levels, of course. Wheat acres will increase about 3.6 million acres to 58 million.”
Glauber said cotton “should see some decline this year, but again fairly strong at 13 million acres.”
Last year cotton producers planted almost 14.75 million acres, but because of drought and other factors they only harvested 9.75.
USDA personnel are right now out surveying farmers on their planting intentions. That report is due at the end of March.
Seven former US Agriculture Secretaries joined the current office holder Tom Vilsack in a unique gathering of cabinet level officials at that forum. They gave their insight into what the future of agriculture might look like.[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/02/USDAoutlook12.mp3|titles=USDA Ag Outlook]
Source: USDA