Survey shows record bean crop

A record soybean crop could be planted this spring with fewer corn acres.

That’s according to a planting survey conducted by Farm Futures ahead of this Friday’s Prospective Plantings report. The survey showed producers expecting to plant almost 89 million acres to soybeans, which is up 6.6 percent from the high set in 2016. Corn acreage would drop 3.9 percent to 90.3 million acres.

Sorghum and wheat ground could even see a shift toward soybeans in the spring if the weather allows. All wheat acreage could be down 8.7 percent which would be the lowest since at least World War I. Sorghum plantings were at 6.2 million, down 7.7 percent from the previous year.

In addition to Prospective Plantings, estimates of March 1 grain stocks will also be released on Friday. Farm Futures had corn stocks at 8.548 billion bushels, up 726 million from a year earlier. Soybean stocks could be at 1.695 billion, up 164 million bushels.