Corn popping

The USDA's prospective plantings report was released today. Find it here.

The big news, as expected, is an ethanol fueled 12 million acre jump in prospective plantings of corn

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Corn growers intend to plant 90.5 million acres of corn for all purposes in 2007, up 15 percent from 2006 and 11 percent higher than 2005.

If proven true, corn area planted would be the largest since 1944. An economist with USDA, speaking on background, said it is important to remember that the report is only prospective plantings, and reality could change by June. Rainy weather could cause growers to forego planting corn, or the big 90 million acre number could scare producers.

Still, the big increase in corn acreage is likely to moderate gains in potato acreage. The first fall potato acreage report will be released in July, and both production and acreage are targeted to grow between 1% and 2% in 2007.

Sweet potato acreage is down 3%.
Other highlights: Soybean acreage down 11%, all wheat acreage up 5%, all cotton acreage down 20%.