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Ag economist expects higher U.S. crop acreage for 2022 season
A University of Missouri ag economist expects more acres will come online for planting this year.
Ben Brown said he expects acreage to be up in USDA’s Prospective Planting report Thursday.
“The pushback I get from people is, ‘we had high prices last year, so any acres that were going to come in, should’ve came in last year’,” Brown said. “I would push back and say that farmers like to see two years of higher prices, at least – if not more, before they start thinking about tearing up that pasture that they worked hard on.”
He tells Brownfield every crop is fighting for acres, which could cause some big adjustments in fringe states outside of the Cornbelt.
“So, in places like Texas, grain sorghum and cotton are going to fight against corn acres because they’re more drought resistant.”
Brown said few crop acres will be added if flexibility is provided to Conservation Reserve Program ground, expecting that to be used for cattle grazing.
