A Look at What Farmers Plan to Plant in 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.