US farmers are likely to expand plantings of both corn and wheat while reducing soyabean and cotton seedings for the upcoming marketing year, the US Agriculture Department said on Friday. The USDA's Office of the Chief Economist forecast that farmers will seed 92.0 million acres of corn in the 2019/20 crop year, up from 89.1 million for 2018/19. For soyabeans, acreage will fall to 82.5 million acres, from 89.1 million.
The USDA projected US all-wheat plantings for 2019/20 at 51.0 million acres, up from 47.8 million in 2018/19. For upland cotton, the USDA projected plantings at 13.5 million acres, down from 13.8 million in 2018/19.
The government put combined plantings of eight major US crops for 2019 at 252.7 million acres, down from 253.7 million a year earlier. The USDA predicted year-on-year increases for corn, wheat, barley and oats, and declines for soyabeans, upland cotton, sorghum and rice.
The forecasts are developed by consensus within the USDA on a long-term scenario for the agricultural sector for the next decade. The government will release its complete report on projections for the next 10 years in February. The USDA projected US corn production for the 2019-20 marketing year that begins September 1, 2019, at 14.930 billion bushels based on a yield of 176.5 bushels per acre. The government projected that 2019-20 corn ending stocks would tighten to 1.603 billion bushels, from 1.813 billion at the end of 2018-19.
For soyabeans, the USDA forecast 2019-20 production at 4.090 billion bushels with a yield of 50.0 bushels per acre. The government projected that 2019-20 soyabean ending stocks would tighten to 723 million bushels, from 885 million at the end of 2018-19. The USDA projected US all-wheat production for 2019-20 at 2.060 billion bushels, a four-year high, if realized. Ending stocks were projected at 933 million bushels, down from 956 million exxpected at the end of 2018/19.
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