Corn Area Down ? – 01/31/2022
US corn planted area could decline this spring based on the historical response to the soybean/corn price ratio during harvest through the early spring period. We calculate the current ratio at 2.7 which is modestly above the recent thirty year average. A 2.7 ratio would result in a forecast of 90 million acres compared to the 93 million acres of corn planted by US farmers in 2021.
Rising production costs, derived mostly from increased petroleum and natural gas prices, also argue against a gain in US corn planted area in 2022.