USDA's 2007 Planting Intentions report, issued March 30,
indicates 90.5 million acres of corn could be planted in the
U.S. this year. That would be 15% more corn nationwide than was
planted in 2006. Will farmers end up planting that much corn?
That's the big question, as much of the Corn Belt has started
the month of April considerably colder and wetter than normal.
The acreage shift to corn projected in the report was bigger
than many analysts anticipated. "It was greater than I was
anticipating by 3 or 4 million acres," says Bob Wisner, Iowa
State University economist. "The biggest surprise was the shift
from cotton and rice to corn in the South. We expected a million
and a half acres to shift there. But we're looking at 3.15
million acres of the increase in U.S. corn acreage coming in the
Mid-South. Another 1.2 million acres in U.S. spring wheat areas
are indicating a switch to corn in 2007." National average yield
also important The acreage is important. But equally important
is the national average yield