US corn growers planted an estimated 94.1 million acres this spring, USDA said in its June 30 Acreage report, up 6%, or 5.52 million acres, from last year and a jump from the March Prospective Plantings estimate of 92 million acres. USDA said this represents the third-highest planted acreage in the US since 1944.
The corn acreage estimate was well above a Bloomberg survey of as many as 32 analysts prior to the report’s release, which averaged 91.9 million acres. USDA said corn acreage is expected to be up or unchanged in 43 of the 48 estimating states compared with last year, with the projected area harvested for grain at 86.3 million acres, up 9% from last year.
The corn acreage increase came at the expense of soybeans. Soybean planted area for 2023 is estimated at 83.5 million acres, down 5% from last year and well below the March Prospective Plantings estimate of 87.5 million acres. Bloomberg’s survey of analysts had yielded a soybean acreage estimate of 87.7 million acres.
USDA said planted soybean area is down in fully 20 of the major producing states, but the 83.5 million acres estimate still places this year’s crop as the fifth-highest planted area on record.
All wheat planted area for 2023 is estimated at 49.6 million acres, up 9% from 2022 and down just slightly from the March estimate of 49.9 million acres. The Bloomberg wheat acreage survey was nearly spot-on, with an average estimate of 49.7 million acres.
All cotton planted area for 2023 is estimated at 11.1 million acres, down 19% from last year and just slightly below the March estimate of 11.3 million acres. The Bloomberg survey came in at an average of 11.2 million planted cotton acres.
US growers planted 6.81 million acres of sorghum in 2023, up 8% from last year and above the Bloomberg survey estimate of 6.2 million acres. Area planted to rice in 2023 was estimated at 2.69 million acres, up from last year’s 2.22 million acres and also besting the March Prospective Plantings estimate of 2.58 million acres.
USDA also released its updated Grain Stocks report on June 30, which pegged total corn stocks at 4.11 billion bushels, down 6% from this time last year; soybean stocks at 796 million bushels, down 18% from last year; and all wheat stocks at 580 million bushels, down 17% from last year at this time.