FSA 2016 Farm Program Acreage Update: Prevent Plant Acres Down vs. 2015

NOTE: This column is copyrighted material; therefore reproduction or retransmission is prohibited under U.S. copyright laws.

Corn plantings of 90.365 million, soybeans at 81.368 million and wheat at 47.502 million acres were reported by farmers to USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) as of Aug. 1, according to the first monthly update of acreage data from the agency.

Here’s a breakdown of the totals for corn, soybeans, upland cotton and wheat:

This initial update from USDA indicates total prevent plant acres of 3.369 million compared to the 2015 final of 6.670 million. Most of the prevent plant issues for the 2016 crop year were located in the south and Delta and Southeast US coastal states.

Of the 3.369 million prevented planting acres in the update, no state so far has reported more than 500,000 acres that were prevented from being planted this growing season.

Texas: 499,548 prevent plant acres, including 384,106 acres of wheat, 12,400 acres of soybeans, 32,626 acres of upland cotton and 26,470 acres of corn.

Arkansas: 478,693 prevent plant acres, including 247,066 acres of wheat, 133,042 acres of corn, 60,987 acres of rice, 29,300 acres of soybeans and 2,591 acres of cotton.

Mississippi: 448,021 prevented plant acres, including 260,373 acres of corn, 181,414 acres of wheat, 2,852 acres of upland cotton, 1,324 acres of soybeans and 1,069 acres of rice.

Louisiana: 437,591 prevented plant acres, including 206,086 acres of corn, 177,854 acres of wheat, 45,320 acres of soybeans, 6,778 acres of rice and 423 acres of upland cotton.

North Carolina: 380,356 prevented plant acres, including 356,062 acres of wheat, 18,147 acres of upland cotton, 4,266 acres of soybeans and 1,102 acres of corn.

South Carolina: 258,583 prevented plant acres, including 226,449 acres of wheat, 13,432 acres of corn, 9,560 acres of upland cotton and 7,171 acres of soybeans.

South Dakota: 246,293 prevented plant acres, including 173,194 acres of corn, 68,932 acres of soybeans and 2,987 acres of wheat.

Comments: As an example of what a difference a year can make, Missouri in 2015 reported 1.708 million acres of prevented plant acres. Their total in 2016: 48,920 acres. No state in 2016 is reporting soybean prevented planting acres of more than 70,000 acres compared to 2015 when Missouri alone had over 1 million prevent plan soybean acres.

The next release of the acreage data from FSA is scheduled for about 2 pm CT on Sept. 12.

NOTE: This column is copyrighted material; therefore reproduction or retransmission is prohibited under U.S. copyright laws.