U.S. Farmers will Plant Most Corn Since 1944

Farmers plan to plant more than 90.5 million acres of corn this year, the most since 1944, to take advantage of soaring grain prices, the U.S. Agriculture Department reported today. If farmers follow through with their plans, that would be a 15 percent increase from the acreage planted to corn in 2007. In Iowa, farmers are being a little more cautious, but they still plan to increase their corn plantings by 10 percent this year to 13.9 million acres. That would fall short of the record 14.4 million acres of corn Iowa growers planted in 1981 when President Reagan ended the Soviet grain embargo. The USDA report, which is based on an extensive survey of farmers that is conducted every March, has been widely anticipated by everyone from farmers to ethanol producers, farm equipment manufacturers, food processors and government officials. The price of corn is at 10-year highs as farmers try to fill the demand from the nation’s growing ethanol industry. The increase in corn acreage means that farmers will plant less land to soybeans. In Iowa, farmers expect to plant 9.2 million acres of soybeans this year, down from 10.2 million in 2006. Nationally, soybean acreage is expected to fall from 75.5 million last year to 67.1 million in 2007, a drop of 11 percent.