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Corn Belt farmers shift corn acres

Some farmers in the Corn Belt say they adjusted their corn acres this spring.

In Davison, Aurora and Sanborn Counties, South Dakota Chet Edinger says the farm planted more corn acres than intended, due to winter wheat failure.

“Weather was the major factor for us, but I’m not afraid of a big corn crop for us at this point. There’s going to be some opportunity in the carry,” he says. “We’ll end up throwing it in the bin, putting a lock on the bin and taking carry on it by selling later.”

But Drew Lock, who farms in Adair County, Missouri says his farm pulled back on corn acres.

“Not because of any reasons influenced by price or acres, it’s just we were going to be heavy on corn and we shifted to more soybeans.”

There was also likely some prevent plant corn acres in the Delta. The USDA says U.S. farmers planted 95.2 million acres of corn this year, the third highest planted acreage in the U.S. since 1944. But it’s lower than USDA’s March forecast.