US farmers expect to plant more soybeans and less corn acreage, ag department reports

Producers surveyed across the United States intend to plant a record high 91 million acres of soybeans in 2022, up 4% from last year, according to the Prospective Plantings report released March 31 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Planted acreage intentions for soybeans are up or unchanged in 24 of the 29 estimating states. The largest increases are expected in Illinois and Missouri, where producers in each state intend to plant 400,000 more acres than in 2021. If realized, the planted area of soybeans in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin will be the largest on record.

Corn growers intend to plant 89.5 million acres in 2022, down 4% from last year. Acreage decreases from last year of 200,000 or more are expected in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. Record high acreage is expected in Nevada and South Dakota. Record low acreage is expected in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

The Prospective Plantings report provides the first official, survey-based estimates of U.S. farmers’ 2022 planting intentions. NASS’s acreage estimates are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of nearly 73,000 farm operators across the nation. Other key findings in the report are:

• All wheat planted area for 2022 is estimated at 47.4 million acres, up 1% from 2021. This represents the fifth lowest all wheat planted area since records began in 1919.

• Winter wheat planted area, at 34.2 million acres, is down less than 1% from the previous estimate but up 2% from last year. This is the 10th lowest planted acreage on record.

• Area planted to other spring wheat for 2022 is expected to total 11.2 million acres, down 2% from 2021.

• Durum wheat is expected to total 1.92 million acres for 2022, up 17% from last year.

• All cotton planted area for 2022 is expected to total 12.2 million acres, 9% above last year.

Also, NASS released the quarterly Grain Stocks report to provide estimates of on-farm and off-farm stocks as of March 1. Key findings in that report include:

• Corn stocks totaled 7.85 billion bushels, up 2% from the same time last year. On-farm corn stocks were up 1% from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were up 3%.

• Soybeans stored totaled 1.93 billion bushels, up 24% from March 1, 2021. On-farm soybean stocks were up 26% from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were up 22%.

• All wheat stored totaled 1.02 billion bushels, down 22% from a year ago. On-farm all wheat stocks went down 39% from last year, while off-farm stocks went down 17%.

• Durum wheat stored totaled 29.7 million bushels, down 30% from March 1, 2021. On-farm Durum stocks were down 44% from a year ago, while off-farm stocks of Durum wheat were down 13%.

The Prospective Plantings, Grain Stocks, and all other NASS reports are available online at nass.usda.gov.