USDA Sees More Soybean Acres, Less Corn in 2022/23 Crop Year

Reuters writer Julie Ingwersen reported last week that, “U.S. farmers are likely to reduce plantings of corn while expanding seedings of soybeans and wheat for the upcoming marketing year, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday.

“The USDA forecast that farmers will seed 92.0 million acres (0.37 million square kilometers) of corn in the 2022/23 crop year, down from 93.3 million in 2021/22. For soybeans, acreage is projected to rise to 87.5 million acres, from 87.2 million.

“The USDA projected U.S. all-wheat plantings for 2022/23 at 49.0 million acres, up from 46.7 million acres in 2021/22.”

The Reuters article pointed out that, “The USDA, which plans to release a full report in February detailing its annual 10-year supply and demand projections, said the figures released on Friday were based on its analytical models and not farmer surveys. The projections were prepared from August through October 2021.”

A news release from USDA explained that, “The tables use the short-term forecasts from the October 12, 2021 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates [WASDE] report as the starting point.”

The release added that, “The projections do not represent USDA forecasts, but reflect a conditional long-run scenario that is based on specific assumptions about macroeconomic conditions, policy, weather, and international developments, with no domestic or external shocks to global agricultural markets.”

The November WASDE report will be released on Tuesday.