The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimated a record high 89.5 million acres of soybeans planted in the United States for 2017, up 7 percent from last year, according to the Acreage report released today. Corn area planted is estimated at 90.9 million acres, down 3 percent from last year.
Following up to the Prospective Plantings report released in late spring, NASS surveyed approximately 11,000 segments of land and 69,700 producers during the first two weeks of June to gather information on what farmers actually planted. Key findings released in the Acreage report include:
Soybeans
- Soybean area for harvest is estimated at a record high 88.7 million acres, if realized, up 7 percent from 2016.
- Producers planted 94 percent of the soybean acreage to herbicide resistant seed varieties, unchanged from 2016.
Corn
- Growers expect to harvest 83.5 million acres of corn for grain, down 4 percent from last year.
- Ninety-two percent of all corn acres planted in the United States are biotech varieties, unchanged from last year.
All Cotton
- All cotton planted area for 2017 is estimated at 12.1 million acres, 20 percent above last year.
- Upland cotton is estimated at 11.8 million acres, up 19 percent from 2016.
- American Pima is estimated at 252,000 acres, up 30 percent from last year.
- Ninety-six percent of Upland cotton planted acres are biotech varieties, up 3 percent from 2016.
All Wheat
- All wheat planted area for 2017 is estimated at 45.7 million acres, down 9 percent from last year. This represents the lowest all wheat planted area since records began in 1919.
- NASS today also released the quarterly Grain Stocks report to provide estimates of on-farm and off-farm stocks as of June 1. Key findings in that report include:
Grain Stocks
- Soybeans stored totaled 963 million bushels, up 11 percent from June 1, 2016. On-farm soybean stocks were up 18 percent from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were up 7 percent.
- Corn stocks totaled 5.23 billion bushels, up 11 percent from the same time last year. On-farm corn stocks were up 15 percent from a year ago, and off-farm stocks were up 6 percent.
- All wheat stored totaled 1.18 billion bushels, up 21 percent from a year ago. On-farm all wheat stocks were down 3 percent from last year, while off-farm stocks were up 28 percent.
- Durum wheat stored totaled 36.3 million bushels, up 31 percent from June 1, 2016. Both on-farm and off-farm stocks of Durum wheat were up from the previous year, 51 percent and 15 percent, respectively.