USDA to restage June 2019 acreage survey as corn price falls 6%

The USDA has confirmed it will resurvey corn, cotton, sorghum and soybean plantings across 14 states after bad weather prevented the gathering of enough data to underpin the annual acreage report, published Friday.

The report stunned the market and saw corn prices drop by over 6% as all expectations for a drop in corn acreage to around 87.2 million acres were thrown out, revealing instead a revised estimate of 91.7 million acres, while soybeans were slashed to 80 million acres – far below analysts’ estimates.

If the results of the resurvey justify a further change, the acreage report will be republished on August 12.

The news casts further uncertainty over the state of US corn and soybean crops, with the reduction in soybean area initially setting soybeans off on an 11 cent upward move.

This was before corn futures lost up to 27 cents/bu along much of the futures contracts covering the 2019/20 marketing year.

“Excessive rainfall had prevented planting at the time of the survey, leaving a portion of acres still to be planted,” the statement notes, with the USDA’s Lance Honig explaining that the decision to revisit the survey would be based on how high the percentage of unplanted land had been in early June.

“If that percentage is still exceptionally high… we’ll make a determination then as to whether or not we need to go back and do any follow up to see how much things might have changed,” Honig told a USDA podcast on June 24.

The survey will be restaged in the following states for the following commodities:

• Corn: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin
• Cotton: Arkansas
• Sorghum: Kansas
• Soybeans: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin