Corn Acres Expected to Soar

March 30, 2007 - Driven by growing ethanol demand, U.S. farmers intend to plant 15 percent more corn acres in 2007, according to the Prospective Plantings report released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Producers plan to plant 90.5 million acres of corn, the largest area since 1944 and 12.1 million acres more than in 2006.

Expected corn acreage is up in nearly all states, due to favorable prices fueled by increased demand from ethanol producers as well as strong export sales. Illinois farmers intend to plant a record 12.9 million corn acres this spring, up 1.6 million acres from 2006. Record-high acreage is also expected in Minnesota, North Dakota, California and Idaho. Iowa continues to be the largest corn acreage state with 13.9 million acres, up 1.3 million acres from 2006.

The Prospective Plantings report provides the first official estimates of U.S. farmers' planting intentions for 2007. NASS' acreage estimates are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of more than 86,000 farm operators across the United States.

The full report is located at http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1136.

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