USDA: Farmers Putting Fewer Acres Into Production

In most so called normal years when commodity prices are very high, farmers tend to plant more acres to take advantage of those prices and generally that tends to boost the total planed acres for the 22 principal crops, but not this year.  According to the new USDA acreage report.

"The principal crop acreage was down 3% from the previous estimate, also down 3% from last year," down to just over 316 million acres and USDA's deputy chief economist Cindy Nickerson said, of course, there are many many factors coming into play here.

"You've got weather issues, prices. But also on the input side, the fertilizer market, as everyone knows, has been especially challenging this year."

And there are uncertainties about the market situation for crops.  The effects of rising interest rates on exports and the effects of inflation on demand.   All of these and more contributing to the expected reduction in overall US planted acres.

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