A Look at What Farmers Plan to Plant in 2026

Apr 08, 2026

By Sean Ellis

Idaho and U.S. farmers are plowing ahead with their normal planting intentions this year despite rising input costs, lower farm-level prices for their commodities and uncertainty in the Middle East.

According to USDA, Idaho farmers plan to plant 4.16 million acres of principal crops this year, about 2 percent more than they planted last year.

Principal crops include corn, potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, dry edible beans, chickpeas, sugar beets and canola, which are all grown in Idaho. They also include rice, soybeans, peanuts, sunflowers and cotton, which are not grown commercially in Idaho.

U.S. farmers plan to plant 310 million acres of principal crops, down less than half a percent from 2025, according to USDA’s annual Prospective Plantings report, which is the first official look at what U.S. farmers say they plan to plant in a given year.

The acreage estimates by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March with nearly 74,000 farm operators across the nation.

This year’s report, which was released March 31, shows that Idaho farmers plan to plant a little more wheat, barley, dry beans, canola and hay this year and fewer acres of corn, sugar beets and chickpeas.

NASS will release official potato acreage estimates for 2026 in late June. For the USDA Prospective Plantings report, NASS carried over the same amount of spud acres as 2025.

North American Potato Market News owner Ben Eborn estimates Idaho potato acres will decline by 15,000, or 5 percent, this year. If accurate, that means Idaho potato acres will fall from 315,000 last year to 300,000 this year.

Idaho potato acreage was also 315,000 in 2024 and hit 330,000 in 2023.

Idaho leads the nation in total potato production and Gem State farmers produce roughly a third of the nation’s spud crop each year.

In the April 2 edition of NAPMN, Eborn also estimates U.S. potato acreage will decline by 3 percent, from 902,000 acres in 2025 to 878,000 acres this year. U.S. spud acreage was 932,000 in 2024 and 966,000 in 2023.

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Video: Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Understanding how a plant responds to stress is one thing.

Using that knowledge to make better management decisions is another.

Systemic acquired resistance, or SAR, is the plant's more direct defense response. When stress or infection occurs, the plant begins signaling throughout its system and preparing defensive compounds.

But if we know that response exists, can we help prepare the plant before the stress arrives?

The answer starts with understanding what triggers the response and what the plant needs to carry it out.

The Trigger and the Fuel

Salicylic acid plays an important role in triggering the SAR pathway.

Think of it as turning the truck on.

The engine may be running, but it still needs fuel to do the work.

In this case, manganese plays an important role in supporting the enzyme systems involved in the plant's defensive response.

This makes manganese status an important part of the conversation. Whether a producer is using tissue testing, sap analysis, or simply scouting for visible deficiency symptoms, the goal is to make sure the plant has adequate manganese available.

Manganese is required in relatively small amounts, but that does not make its role small.

If the plant receives a signal to defend itself but lacks the nutrition needed to support that response, it may struggle to carry out the process efficiently.

The trigger matters.

The fuel matters too.

Prepare Before the Stress Arrives

The best time to think about stress management is before the plant is overwhelmed.

Once a crop is already struggling, management can quickly turn into a game of catch-up.

This is similar to nitrogen management. Once a plant becomes severely deficient, correcting the problem does not necessarily erase the time and yield potential already lost.

Plant defense can work the same way.

Low-rate, targeted approaches designed to support the SAR pathway may fit best ahead of an expected stress event rather than after significant damage has already occurred.

That requires producers to think about predictable stress.

We may not know exactly what the weather will do tomorrow, but we generally know summer heat is coming. We know certain field conditions increase disease pressure. We know a herbicide application can temporarily stress a crop as the plant processes the chemistry.

Even a properly timed and labeled herbicide application can create a temporary response in the plant.

That does not mean the herbicide is bad.

Weeds can create significantly more yield loss than the temporary stress caused by controlling them.

The question is not whether we should eliminate every stressor.

The question is whether we can better prepare the plant to manage necessary and predictable stress.

Not All Stress Is Bad

Stress is a normal part of plant growth.

A perfectly stress-free environment does not exist in the field.

In fact, some stress is necessary for normal plant development. A plant responds to wind, temperature, moisture, sunlight, and countless other environmental signals throughout the season.

The environment is stress.

The plant's job is to manage it.

Problems begin when the stress load becomes greater than the plant's ability to respond.

Extreme heat, drought, high salt concentrations, disease pressure, and even certain management practices can add to that load.

This is where understanding SAR becomes useful.

Instead of waiting until the plant is visibly struggling, producers can begin identifying periods when stress is likely and make management decisions around those windows.

ISR Starts With the Soil

While SAR is a more direct defense response, induced systemic resistance, or ISR, brings the conversation back to soil health.

The longevity of a farm is closely connected to the health of its soil.

Carbon plays a major role because it supports biological life within the soil. Bacteria, fungi, and other organisms interact with plant roots and influence how the plant grows, accesses nutrients, and prepares for stress.

This is why soil health cannot be reduced to one product or one application.

It is a system.

Keeping living plants in the field longer can support biological activity. Cover crops may fit some operations. Better water management can improve soil conditions.