USDA Acreage Report

USDA released their acreage report last week. The report didn’t contain a lot of surprises and after a couple of days, the market had absorbed the report and retreated to pre-report price levels. Overall in Arkansas, we can clearly see the acreage shift out of high-input crops like rice and cotton and into corn and soybeans as the price ratios have made those crops more attractive to farmers. The market will now be focused on the weather and yield potential.

Arkansas rice acreage was pegged at 1.241 million acres, down 15% from a year ago. Of that total, 1.120 million acres are long grain, while the remaining 121,000 acres are medium and short grain. There is still a possibility of higher-than-usual abandonment as severe flooding in southeastern Arkansas caused serious damage to the crop.

Arkansas farmers have reportedly seeded 3.05 million aces to soybeans, and US farmers have  seeded 87.555 million acres. That estimate is unchanged from the March Prospective Plantings Report, but the trade was projecting a 1.5 million acre increase. Farmers in southeast Arkansas have been impacted by widespread flooding, so lost and abandoned acres will likely be higher than average. We initially saw a huge reaction in futures but the market has quickly retraced those gains.

U.S. farmers have seeded 92.7 million acres to corn. The trade was expecting a bigger number and that resulted in a huge move in the futures markets. That move was short lived, though, as the market has quickly retreated to pre-report price levels this week. Large acreage increases for corn in states like the Dakotas and Minnesota could be offset by the fact that those states are in a severe drought and yield could be impacted. Arkansas farmers seeded 750,000 acres to corn, up from 620,000 acres last year as acres shifted out of rice and cotton.

U.S. all-cotton acres dropped to 11.719 million this year, down from over 12 million acres in 2020. Rain in west Texas has improved crop conditions there and some of the decrease could be offset by improved yields and fewer abandoned acres. Arkansas farmers seeded 410,000 acres to cotton, down from 520,000 a year ago.