U.S. soybean plantings will be record-large for the second year in a row in 2017 if growers follow through on their stated plans, said Farm Futures magazine. In an email survey, farmers said they intend to plant more soybeans, cotton and sorghum next year while cutting back on corn and wheat.
Soybean prices are more attractive than corn at present, both for this year’s crop and in futures contracts for the new crop, said grain-market analyst Bryce Knorr, who has conducted Farm Futures’ surveys since 1988. However, prices for corn and soybeans, the two most widely planted crops in the country, are well below break-even, he said.
Growers planted a record 83.7 million acres of soybeans this year and told Farm Futures they plan to sow 84.4 million acres next year. Corn, often grown in a 50-50 rotation with soybeans, would lose nearly 1.1 million acres for a total of 93.1 million acres in 2017. Wheat seedings would fall by 3.4 percent in the face of a global glut. Cotton growers would expand by 50 million acres and sorghum growers by 59 million acres, both less than 1 percent
Corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and sorghum are the five crops with the largest planted area — 244.1 million acres this year. Farm Futures’ survey said the five-crop total next year would be nearly unchanged at 244 million acres. Rice, barley and oats, comprising 9.2 million acres this year, are the three other major U.S. crops.