Corn Acres Will Top 95 Million in 2025, USDA Says

Bloomberg’s Michael Hirtzer reported Monday that “US farmers are boosting corn planting to a five-year high as the looming trade war makes America’s mostly widely grown crop a relatively safe bet even as demand is at risk of being shaken up by reciprocal tariffs.”

“Farmers are expected to plant 95.3 million acres of corn this spring, up 5% from a year ago and more than the 94.4 million predicted in a Bloomberg survey, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s annual prospective planting report,” Hirtzer reported. “…Acres of soybeans — demand of which fell sharply during Trump’s last trade war — was expected to decline 4% to 83.5 million, just below the average estimate. The wheat-planting estimate of 45.4 million acres was down from the average estimate for 46.5 million acres.”

“Separate USDA data on quarterly grain and soybean stocks came in near estimates. Corn stockpiles as of March 1 were down about 2.4% from last year, with tighter supplies also helping to entice farmers to plant more this spring,” Hirtzer reported. “‘Stocks were about as neutral as it gets,’ Marex analyst Charlie Sernatinger said of crop supples. ‘Now, on to the tariffs.'”

State-by-State Corn Planting Breakdown

Successful Farming’s Natalina Sents Bausch reported Monday that “this year, Iowa is expected to lead the nation in acreage planted to corn. USDA expects 13.5 million acres to be planted with the crop this season, according to the March 31 report. That’s more than 13% of the total U.S. corn acres the agency expects to be grown in 2025.”

“Iowa’s 2025 corn acreage is up from last year at this time when Iowa farmers were expected to plant 12.9 million acres of corn in the 2024 growing season,” Sents Bausch reported.

“Illinois farmers will plant 11.1 million acres of corn in 2025, said USDA. That’s more than 11% of the total corn acreage USDA expects to be planted in the season ahead,” Sents Bausch reported. “This is up from last year at this time when Illinois farmers were expected to plant 10.8 million acres of corn in the 2024 growing season. However, in 2023, farmers in the state we expected to plant 11.2 million acres of the crop, slightly more than the most recent projection.”

“In 2025, USDA expects Nebraska farmers to plant 10.6 million acres of corn. That’s just over 11% of the country’s total corn acres projected for 2025,” Sents Bausch reported. “This is up from 2024 when farmers in the state were expected to plant just over 10 million acres of the crop.”

AgWeb’s Tyne Morgan reported that some of the largest individual state planting increases for 2025 are expected in the South, with Arkansas up 42% over last year, Mississippi up 41% and Tennessee up 29%.

Trade Unsurprised by High Corn Plantings Estimate

Morgan reported that “the corn acreage came in above the average trade guess, which was 94.361 million, but the USDA survey results were below the soybean prereport estimates, which was 83.76 million acres. Why weren’t traders more surprised by USDA’s large acreage number for corn?”

“‘I think it’s probably because there was also the expectation that no matter how high the number on corn plantings that it would be the smallest number of the year on corn plantings,’ says Chip Flory, host of ‘AgriTalk’ and Farm Journal’s economist,” Morgan reported.

“Ben Brown, an extension agricultural economist at the University of Missouri, says even though 95.3 million is above the average trade guess, it’s not as high as what some expected,” Morgan reported. “‘There have been whispers that managed money traders were anticipating a number in the upper 95s or even 96-million-acre range for corn,’ says Brown. ‘Those whispers pushed new corn down 9 cents per bushel last week and new crop soybeans up 22 cents per bushel. If true, today’s planting intentions report would have been disappointing to them and trigger a reversal of last week’s movement. It is still a relatively large corn acreage number.'”