The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released crop acreage reports today for Wisconsin and the United States. Across the nation we see that planted acreage of corn, soybeans and wheat are all up this year, and that spurred some reaction in the commodity markets this afternoon. Corn acres are up 2%, soybeans up 5% and wheat up 5% across the US.
When we focus in on Wisconsin, things are only slightly different and the results are a bit different from intentions estimated in March. While corn acreage is up nationwide, we see that Wisconsin’s is down slightly this year. Total corn acreage planted in the state of Wisconsin is estimated at 3.9 million acres, which is actually down 100,000 acres from 2020. An estimated 2.9 million of those acres are forecasted to be harvested for grain. Interestingly, there has been a gradual decrease in corn acres across the state over the past 10 years.
Looking at soybeans, total acreage is estimated to be at 2.2 million acres, which is a 200,000 acre increase from last year. Potatoes are estimated at 67,000 total acres, down 3,000 acres from 2020. It is also estimated that total dry hay harvested this year will be around 1.22 million acres, 150,000 acres lower than the previous year. However alfalfa ground is up 10,000 acres within that acreage total, estimated at 850,000 or about 69.7% of the total dry hay acres harvested.
For more detailed information on the acreage report and other agricultural reports, visit nass.usda.gov.
