U.S. farmers are unsure about whether to increase corn acreage next spring, despite high prices and sharply lower production caused by this year's historic drought. Instead, Farm Futures Magazine's first survey of 2013 planting intentions shows growers would rather boost soybean and wheat seedings.
Results of the survey of some 1,800 growers were released Tuesday morning on the opening day of the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa.
Farmers plan to put in 93.1 million acres of corn in the year ahead, down 4% from this year, when they planted the most corn ground in 75 years. Farm Futures' survey found producers actually planted slightly more corn in 2012 than reported in June by USDA, though they abandoned more of that ground than the agency estimates due to the ravages of the drought.
Instead of increasing corn plantings, as most experts assume, farmers want to continue expanding soybean acreage in the year ahead. Growers said they want to seed 78.1 million soybean acres next spring, up 1.2% from this year's total. Farm Futures also found higher soybean acreage this year, though greater abandonment, too.
"Ironically, this shift from corn to soybeans mirrors a similar shift taking place in South America as well, casting doubt's on the world's ability to rebuild tight global feed grain stocks without a significant shift in global weather patterns to boost yields in 2013," notes Farm Futures Market Analyst Arlan Suderman.
Wheat acreage would also rise in the year ahead, according to the Farm Futures survey, reaching 57 million, up 1.8%. However, that increase would not be uniform across the country. Instead, farmers in the eastern Midwest and South want to increase seedings of soft red winter wheat, while those in the Pacific Northwest are planning more white wheat. But both hard red spring and winter wheat seedings could decrease for the crop harvested in 2013.
"Of course, these findings are just the opening salvo in the battle to buy acres in the year ahead," says Farm Futures Senior Editor Bryce Knorr, who conducted the research. "Farmer intentions can and do change, as they look at the profitability of different crops. But these results tell us that growers would like to get their rotations back in balance after pushing corn in recent years."
"Initial budgets for corn give it a strong advantage over soybeans, according to our projections. While farmers fear rising costs, especially for fertilizer, so far expenses don't look like they're increasing much. And 2013 crop corn prices are relatively stronger than those for soybeans, because the market assumes a big South American crop will hit the pipeline this coming spring."
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Source: Argentine Beef Packers S.A.
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