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Early farmer decisions drive higher-than-expected corn planting estimate

An ag economist says it was not a surprise USDA forecast U.S. corn acreage above most pre-report expectations.

Megan Roberts with Compeer Financial tells Brownfield many farmers had their planting intentions set by the end of last fall.

“Oftentimes, you have locked into that seed, you’ve locked into your fertilizer choices, you’ve made some of those decisions. So I thought that we might be a little bit higher, and who knows what will happen then as the actual planting season progresses.”

USDA survey data suggests farmers will plant 95.3 million corn acres and 84.7 million acres of soybeans.

“Which was just a hair lower than maybe what some of those average estimates coming out of the trade, it was a hair lower than what had been forecast back in February (during the USDA Ag Outlook Forum).”

She says the market’s subdued response was likely because the Prospective Planting estimates were close enough to trade guesses ahead of the report.

Roberts made these comments during an upcoming Economic Minute Podcast, a content partnership between Brownfield Ag News and Compeer Financial.