News
USDA sees ’21 corn acres at 92 million, soybeans at 90 million
The USDA provided another glimpse of planting expectations during this week’s Ag Outlook Forum.
Global Commodity Analytics president Mike Zuzolo says the department aligned with his anticipated 90 million U.S. soybean acres in 2021.
“This makes sense from a rotational standpoint (and) also makes sense from a standpoint of cost of production starting to be quite elevated.”
He tells Brownfield while higher chemical, fertilizer, seed, and fuel prices favor soybeans, USDA still sees corn acres at around 92 million this year.
“I know a lot of anhydrous and farm work got done in the primary Corn Belt last fall, so I was expecting around 90 million acres. But 92 million, to me, is kind of a top end number at this point. Especially with crop insurances prices likely to shake out where they’re going to shake out for the base price.”
USDA chief economist Seth Meyer said during the forum these projections are based on the assumption of normal planting weather.
USDA’s Prospective Plantings report that uses farmer survey results will be released March 31st.
