Planting Estimates for the Year

USDA released its first planting estimates of the year. The agency predicts robust corn and soybean acres, but they aren't expected to surpass record acreage from recent years, said Robert Johansson, USDA chief economist.

USDA expects roughly equal corn and soybean acres in 2018, Johansson says, with each landing at 90 million acres. That's 0.2% lower than a year ago for corn, and 0.1% lower for soybeans.

Wheat acres, on the other hand, are projected to rise 1.1% in 2018 to 46.5 million acres.

Contrast USDA's figures with recent industry trade estimates, which were released the prior. As many as 21 industry analysts participated in this survey.

For corn, analysts gave an average guess of 90.12 million U.S. corn acres, with a range between 88.77 million and 92.5 million acres. For soybeans, analysts suggested U.S. 2018 acres will total 90.69 million acres this year.

Individual trade guesses ranged from 88.5 million to 92 million acres. For wheat, analysts estimated an average guess of 46.38 million acres of wheat this year.