USDA report: Corn planted acreage down 4% from 2021

While USDA's June acreage report shows farmers planted slightly less acres than in 2021, a farm economist says that data could change when the agency resurveys some planted acreage.

American Farm Bureau Federation Senior Economist Veronica Nigh says USDA’s June 30 acreage report indicates that for the ’22-23 crop year, farmers planted 237.8 million acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton – down about 700,000 acres from last year.

"USDA has indicated that a special follow-up survey will be carried out due to the significant number of acres left to be planted per farmers’ stated intentions," she said.

Nigh says farmers didn’t seem to change planting decisions based on high input prices.

"Ahead of the report’s release, much of the conversation focused on whether farmers would switch to corn despite the higher planting costs in hopes that the revenue received in the fall would be higher than soybean returns," she told Micheal Clements during a podcast. "The acreage report indicates that farmers made small shifts to plant a few more acres of corn and cotton and pulled acres from beans and wheat, but that was likely due to weather."

The USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will collect updated data for crops planted in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, where excessive rainfall delayed planting.

Nigh says if the newly collected data justifies any changes, NASS will publish updated acreage estimates in the crop production report on August 12.

"There were four million acres left to be planted of corn and 15.8 million acres of soybeans left to be planted. For corn, if all four million acres are planted, that puts us slightly ahead of 2021 plantings. And if all of acres indeed got planted to soybeans, that will mean that farmers planted more than 104 million acres of soybeans, which would be an incredible 19 percent increase over 2021," she said.

Wisconsin crop report

Corn planted in 2022 for all purposes by Wisconsin producers is estimated at 4 million acres according to the USDA NASS – Acreage report. This is unchanged from 2021 but 300,000 acres above the March intentions. Harvested acres for grain is forecast at 3 million acres.

Producers reported planting biotechnology varieties on 91 percent of their 2022 corn acres. The percent of corn acreage planted to insect resistant (Bt) varieties is estimated at 3%, herbicide resistant only varieties were planted on 11% of the acres, and stacked gene varieties were planted on 77% of the acres. 

Soybean planted acreage is estimated at 2.25 million acres, up 150,000 acres from the acres planted in 2021 but down 50,000 acres from the March intentions. An expected 2.22 million acres of soybeans will be harvested. Producers reported using herbicide resistant varieties to plant 92% of their 2022 soybean acres. 

Winter wheat planted in Wisconsin is estimated at 300,000 acres, up 10,000 acres last year and up 20,000 acres from the March intentions. Winter wheat harvested for grain is forecast at 260,000 acres.

Oats planted acreage is estimated at 130,000 acres, down 45,000 acres from last year and down 25,000 acres from the March intentions. Harvested acres for grain is forecast at 65,000 acres.

Rye planted acreage is estimated at 270,000 acres, unchanged from last year. Harvested acres for grain is forecast at 25,000 acres. Barley planted acreage is estimated at 22,000 acres, up 7,000 acres from last year but down 5,000 acres from the March intentions. Harvested acres for grain is forecast at 5,000 acres. 

Potato acreage in Wisconsin is estimated at 65,000 acres, down 4,000 acres from the previous year. Potato planted acreage by type of potato consists of 44 percent Russets, 41 percent Whites, 10 percent Reds, and 5 percent Yellows. An expected 64,000 acres of potatoes will be harvested. 

Total dry hay expected to be harvested for 2022 is estimated at 1.38 million acres, up 150,000 acres from last year and up 80,000 acres from the March intentions. Alfalfa harvested acreage is an estimated 890,000 acres and other hay harvested acreage is estimated at 490,000 acres.

National acreage 

Corn planted area for all purposes in 2022 is estimated at 89.9 million acres, down 4% or 3.44 million acres from last year. Compared with last year, planted acreage is expected to be down or unchanged in 35 of the 48 estimating States. Area harvested for grain, at 81.9 million acres, is down 4% from last year. 

Soybean planted area for 2022 is estimated at 88.3 million acres, up 1 percent from last year. Compared with last year, planted acreage is up or unchanged in 24 of the 29 estimating States.