The US Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates that 85.1 million acres of soybeans have been planted in the United States for 2015, up 2% on last year and setting a new record high, according to the latest Acreage report.

By contrast, growers planted an estimated 88.9 million acres to corn, the lowest corn acreage in the United States in the last half a decade.
To accurately gauge national crop acreages, NASS surveyed approximately 11,000 segments of land and more than 70,000 producers during the first two weeks of June.

Key findings released in the Acreage report include:

Soybeans

• Soybean area for harvest is forecast at a record high 84.4 million acres, if realized, up nearly 1.4 million acres from 2014.

• Record high planted acreage is estimated in Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

• Ninety-four percent of all planted acres of soybeans in the United States are herbicide resistant varieties, unchanged from last year.

• Weather impacted crops across the United States this year. Several of the states experienced droughts, while others saw some of the wettest spring weather in recorded history. As a result of weather conditions, a percentage of acres remained to be planted for cotton in Texas (representing 58 percent of U.S. total); sorghum in Kansas (37 percent of U.S. total); and soybeans in Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri (representing 15 percent of U.S. total soybeans acreage combined). To ensure accurate final estimates for all crops, NASS will resurvey growers in these states. If the newly collected data justify any changes to the current estimates, NASS will publish updated estimates in its Crop Production report, on August 12.

• The Acreage and Grain Stocks reports and all NASS reports are available here.