Principal Crop Total Down More Than a Million Acres

The acreage planted of the 21 crops the USDA deems “principal crops” continued its downward trend in 2017.

USDA Chief Economist Rob Johannson said, “Our principal crop total is down 1.1 million acres from last year at 318.2 million acres.”

The principal crop acreage is down 8.25 million acres in the past three years.

So perhaps it’s not surprising if there’s correlating bad news from Johannson.

“If we look at farm income, it’s the same thing. It went down in ’14 and ’15 and ’16 and this year we’re expected to be relatively flat, down a little bit.”

Plantings have been cut in 21 states, increased in 26 states with three states at about the same.