Growers plan “a massive shift into soybeans” and away from corn in 2015, according to an email survey of 1,650 farmers by Farm Futures that concluded a few days ago. The oilseed is expected to be more profitable than corn. Soybean supplies are swollen by a record harvest in 2014 but corn farmers have seen back-to-back record-setting crops. Farm Futures said its survey indicated a 5 percent increase in soybean plantings, to 88.3 million acres, from 2014, while corn area would shrink to 88.5 million acres, a drop of nearly 3 percent. Winter wheat plantings would climb by 0.6 percent, to 42.6 million acres, and all wheat would rise by more than 1 percent, to 57.6 million acres.
Farm Futures said the outlook for corn and soybean prices should improve when USDA releases the monthly crop report next week. Farm Futures says its analysis indicates the corn harvest was 1.5 percent smaller than USDA’s current estimate and the soybean harvest was 3 percent smaller.
Surveys by Reuters and Bloomberg say that traders expect marginal changes from USDA. Traders expect USDA to lower its corn estimate by 50-60 million bushels, from the current 14.407 billion bushels, and to stay close to its soybean estimate of 3.958 billion bushels. Mammoth crops are expected to depress commodity prices for a year or two at a minimum.