Crop Acreage Data

Aside from planning a 4-percent expansion of corn area, U.S. farmers aren't enthusiastic about spring planting. With little improvement expected in commodity prices, growers say they will plant fewer acres of soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, sorghum and oats than in 2018, and they'll stand pat on barley.

The chemical and agricultural company DuPont says it expects "a slight year-over-year uptick" in corn plantings in the United States, the world's largest grower, and Brazil, the No. 3 grower behind China.

Analysts are chewing over the arcane Crop Acreage Data page posted by USDA in hopes of a clearer picture of this fall's corn and soybean harvests.