2012 USDA Acreage Report

(Correction to Mississippi cotton acreage change from March has been made)

The much anticipated, and likely to be much debated, 2012 Acreage report from USDA  was released this morning (June 29). Nationally, the report bumped up the number of acres for corn and soybeans from it’s earlier Prospective Plantings report. Cotton acres were reported lower than in March. Mississippi corn and cotton acres were lowered from the March estimates but soybean acres were raised. Debate will certainly follow in the coming days/weeks before attention is moved squarely to yields.

Corn acres in the U.S. are estimated at 96.405 million; up 4.47% from 2011, up 0.56% from the March number, and up 0.46% from the pre-report estimate of 95.962 million. In Mississippi, corn acres are called at 840,000, up 3.7% from 2011 but down 6.67% from the earlier March estimate of 900,000.

Soybean acres are estimated at 76.080 million; up 1.16% from 2011, up 2.95% from March’s estimate and up 0.67% from the market expected acreage of 75.575 million. In Mississippi, soybean acres are estimated at 2.130 million; up 17.03% from 2011 and up 21.71% from the March forecast of 1.750 million acres.

National cotton acres are called at 12.635 million; down 14.25% from 2011, down 3.95% from the March report, and down 0.35% from pre-report expectations of 12.680 million. In Mississippi, cotton acres were called at 580,000; down 7.94% from 2011, but equal to the March reported value of 580,000.

Rice acres in the U.S. are estimated at 2.661 million; down 0.56% from 2011 but up 3.90% from the March forecast. In Mississippi, rice acres are called at 135,000, which is the same as the March number but down 27.03% from 2011.

Rounding out the remainder of the summer crops in Mississippi, hay acres are estimated at 750,000, up 4.17% from 2011; grain sorghum acres are estimated at 65,000, up 25% from 2011; peanut acres are estimated at 50,000, up 233% from 2011; and sweet potato acres are estimated at 23,000, down 4.17% from 2011.