The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that U.S. corn growers are expected to cut sowing by 3.9% or 3.67 million acres to a four-year low of 91.7 million acres.  But the impact on the final output may not be as large as the data suggests because of a few reasons.  First, historically March planting estimates have been downbeat and have underestimated corn acreage.  In seven of the past ten years the actual planted acreage has exceeded the March planting estimate.  The second reason that the impact may not be as severe as first thought is where exactly the corn acreage is being cut.  The farmers that are turning away from corn are doing so in areas that are not well suited for its production, such as Texas where growers are switching acreage to cotton, and in the Northern Plains where growers have consistently fallen short of average yields.

 

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