USA – United States is projected to record an increase in both the number of acres and harvests of corn and wheat while soybean acres are expected to fall in the year 2019, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture’s outlook to 2028.
The report suggests that after 2019, heat acres will decline and then flatten and not reach the level forecast for the coming year in the rest of the 10-year outlook period.
Corn acres were forecast to increase for two years before settling into a narrow, mixed range through 2028 while soybean plantings were forecast to drop sharply in 2019 and then expand slowly for nine years.
In 2019, wheat is expected to be planted on 51 million acres, up 6.6% from 47.8 million acres in 2018 but from 2020-2022, they are projected to fall before reaching between 48 million and 49 million acres through 2028.
Projected wheat plantings for 2019 would be the highest since 2015, but down 42% from the record-high 88.3 million acres planted in 1981.
Harvested acres of wheat will increase in 2019 to 43.1 million acres, a 9% increase from 39.6 million acres in 2018 while harvested acreage was forecast to decline in 2020 to 2021 before hitting a plateau between 40.6 million and 41.5 million acres through 2028.
Wheat yields in 2019 were projected at 47.8 bushels per harvested acre with a steady increase through 2028.
Wheat production in 2019 is projected at 2.060 billion bushels, up 9% from 1.884 billion bushels in 2018 and 2.087 billion bushels in 2028
Planted and harvested corn acreages were seen rising over the next two years before settling into a narrow range through 2028.
Area planted to corn in 2019 was forecast at 92 million acres, a 3.2% increase from 2018.
Corn plantings were forecast to peak at 93 million acres in 2020 and hold at that level through 2023 before beginning to decline to 91.5 million acres at the end of the 10-year outlook.
Harvested corn acres were seen rising 3.4% from 2018 to 84.6 million acres in 2019.
According to USDA, corn yield will fall 2.3% in 2019 to 176.5 bushels per acre before rising 2 bushels per year in each of the next nine crop years.
Corn production will rise 1% in 2019 to 14.930 billion bushels, which, if realized, would be the second-largest outturn on record after 15.148 billion bushels in 2016, and will reach 16.355 billion bushels in 2028.
Soybean area in 2019 was forecast to drop sharply from the current year to 82.5 million acres down 6.6 million acres, or 7%, from 89.1 million acres in 2018.
Soybean planted area is expected to expand slowly from 2019 and reach 85.5 million acres in 2027 and 2028.
Harvested area was expected to increase incrementally after 2019 and 2020 (the 2020 area was forecast to equal that of 2019) and reach 84.7 million acres in both 2027 and 2028.
In 2018, the average soybean yield set a record at 53.1 bushels per acre.
The USDA projected average soybean yield in 2019 to drop to 50 bushels per acre and average yield was forecast to increase steadily along this trendline from 2019.
Soybean production in 2019 is expected to hit 4.090 billion bushels, down 600 million bus, or 13%, from a record 4.690 billion bushels in 2018.
Production in subsequent years of the 10-outlook was projected increase steadily and reach 4.655 billion bushels in 2025.
