?It?s time to plant corn! It?s that time of the year,? Iowa Governor Terry Branstad said.
The crop insurance date that gives Iowa farmers the go-ahead to plant corn was yesterday.
However, economics and weather will have their say about corn planting progress.
According to the recent USDA March Prospective Planting Report, Iowa farmers will plant 600,000 acres less corn than they did last year.
USDA’s report pegged Iowa?s 2017 corn acreage at 13.3 million, off 4% from a year ago.
Iowa?s soybean acreage is estimated at an 18-year high of 10.1 million.
Doug Hartwig, deputy regional director for Upper Midwest Region, agrees that conditions are factoring into Iowa farmers leaning toward more soybean acres.
?The real storyteller will be the June USDA Acreage Report. The weather is going to dictate what that June report tells us. It?s still too early to tell Iowa?s corn story, Hartwig said.”
