US farmers aim to plant more corn, soy in 2023, but delays likely

U.S. farmers are aiming to expand plantings of corn, wheat and soybeans this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a prospective plantings report on Friday, as the ongoingwar in Ukraine keeps global supplies tight.

But adverse planting conditions are likely to trim back the expansion in some northern U.S. states as heavy snowpack and cold, soggy soils could delay spring fieldwork, analysts said.

Global grain supplies have tightened to near decade lows following Russia’s invasion of major supplier Ukraine so larger crops in other breadbaskets such as the United States are needed to replenish stocks and temper food inflation.

The USDA said U.S.growers plan to seed 91.996 million acres of corn in 2023, the third most in a decade, and 87.505 million acres of soybeans, the third most on record. Corn seedings topped theconsensus analyst estimate, while soybean plantings fell short of the average estimate.

“If you look at the weather forecast for the Northern Plains with the amount of snow that’s there and more that’s coming, I can see an argument being made that some of those acres will have to get shifted back from corn to beans,” said Ted Seifried, chief market strategist for the Zaner Group.

All wheat plantings were seen rising to 49.855 million acres, although analysts also cautionedthat harvested acres could be much lower due to drought in the southern Plains and overly wet spring wheat planting conditions in the northern Plains.

The agency in a separate quarterly grain stocks reportsaid stocks of U.S. wheat as of March 1 thinned to 946 million bushels, the tightest in 15 years. Corn stocks fell to a nine-year low of 7.401 billion bushels while soybean stocks dropped to 1.685 billion bushels, a two-year low.

Benchmark Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures Sv1 rallied to a near two-week high following the USDA report. Corn futures Cv1 were up 1.3% and CBOT wheat Wv1 were off 0.6%.

Tags: corn, planting, weather, soybeans, wheat, stocks, U.S., food inflation