Soybean acreage expected to be record high in 2017; corn and wheat numbers down

U.S. farmers are expected to plant a record high 89.5 million acres of soybeans in 2017, while reducing acreage for corn and wheat, Mike McGinnis reports for Successful Farming. Last year farmers planted 83.43 million acres of soybeans. This year they are expected to plant 90 million acres of corn, down from 94 million last year, and 46.1 million acres of wheat, down from 50.1 million.

While the record soybean acreage is not a shock, "It certainly was a bearish disappointment to those hoping producers would not be so eager to switch from their more traditional tendency to stick with corn," Todd Hultman reports for DTN/The Progressive Farmer. If the expected numbers are correct, it "means that roughly 6 million of the 8 million acres that corn and wheat drop will go to soybeans. The other 2 million acres are expected to go to cotton. In other words, the slightly profitable carrot that new-crop soybean prices have been dangling was apparently effective, and soybean prices are now set up to take one for the team in 2017."

"Corn on hand of 8.616 billion bushels exceeded Dow Jones' survey estimate of 8.551 billion bushels and translated to record demand of 8.32 billion bushels in the first half of 2016-17," Hultman writes. "Soybean stocks at 1.735 billion bushels on March 1 translated to 2.79 billion bushels of demand in the first half of 2016-17, also a new record high. Wheat's 1.655 billion bushels was also a little more than expected for March 1 and reinforces USDA's bearish ending stocks estimate of 2.27 billion bushels for 2016-17." (DTN graphic: Expected planting of corn, wheat and soybean)