USDA’s Prospective Plantings Report released Wednesday threw some surprises to the market. And as a result, commodity prices exploded, with both corn and soybeans closing limit up on Wednesday.
The first farmer survey-based report of the year shows farmers intend to plant 91.1 million acres of corn and 87.6 million acres of soybeans. Both of those results were below trade expectations. The report also indicated farmers intend to plant 12 million acres of cotton, and the all wheat acres number came in at 46.4 million.
USDA chief economist Seth Meyer says leading into the report, the agency expected higher prices to incentivize farmers to plant more acres this year.
“I’ll just remind folks that if you’re watching the ongoing acreage negotiation live, this survey is the first part of that bid,” says Meyer. “So, I would say from a from a purely price standpoint, and producers don’t worry just about price as there’s the other side of that balance sheet. But from a purely price standpoint, it’s clear that the market was surprised given the commodity prices that we had today.”
USDA’s original look at acreage in February indicated farmers could plant a record number of combined corn and soybean acres this year. However, farmers who responded to the survey told a different story.
“NASS gathers this as a survey. This is what the producers have said, and clearly the market wants to be sure that they try and incentivize. And so that’s why prices are higher,” Meyer adds.
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Where Did the Acres Go? A State-by-State Breakdown of USDA’s Prospective Plantings Report
Prospective Plantings: 91.1 Million Acres of Corn, 87.6 Million Acres of Soybeans
