Corn Acres Down, Soybeans Up Over Last Year

By Ryan Hanrahan

FarmWeek’s Daniel Grant reported Friday that “a challenging planting season apparently didn’t stop U.S. farmers from seeding a hefty amount of corn and soybeans, according to USDA’s much-anticipated June acreage report released (this past) Friday. Despite wild weather fluctuations in recent months, USDA pegged planted acreage at 91.5 million acres of corn and 86.1 million acres of soybeans. The corn estimate is down 3% from last year but more than a million acres above the average trade guess while the soybeans estimate is up 3% from a year ago.”

In addition, Progressive Farmer reported Friday that “corn grain stocks on June 1 were pegged at 4.99 billion bushels and soybeans came in at 970 million bushels.”

Successful Farming’s Cassidy Walter reported after the reports on Friday that Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting said that “the numbers in the Acreage report raise a few questions. We still have 3.36 million corn and 12.8 million soybean acres left to plant. So it is pretty tough to sit here and say this is your acreage. If you get floods and heavy rains and even 1 million of the 3.36 doesn’t get planted, then all of a sudden you’re back to 90.5 million acres.”

Grain Stocks

Progressive Farmer reported that “corn stocks in all positions on June 1, 2024, totaled 4.99 billion bushels, up 22% from June 1, 2023. Of the total stocks, 3.03 billion bushels are stored on farms, up 37% from a year earlier. Off-farm stocks, at 1.97 billion bushels, are up 4% from a year ago. The March-May 2024 indicated disappearance is 3.36 billion bushels, compared with 3.29 billion bushels during the same period last year.”

“Soybeans stored in all positions on June 1, 2024, totaled 970 million bushels, up 22% from June 1, 2023,” Walter reported. “On-farm stocks totaled 466 million bushels, up 44% from a year ago. Off-farm stocks, at 504 million bushels, are up 6% from a year ago. Indicated disappearance for the March-May 2024 quarter totaled 875 million bushels, down 2% from the same period a year earlier.”

“Old-crop all wheat stored in all positions on June 1, 2024, totaled 702 million bushels, up 23% from a year ago,” Walter reported. “On-farm stocks are estimated at 139 million bushels, up 12% from last year. Off-farm stocks, at 563 million bushels, are up 27% from a year ago. The March-May 2024 indicated disappearance is 387 million bushels, up 4% from the same period a year earlier.”

Progressive Farmer reported that “USDA’s acreage estimates are bearish for new-crop corn and slightly bullish for new-crop soybeans and U.S. wheat, said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. USDA’s grain stocks estimates were bearish for corn and neutral for soybeans and wheat, he said.”