Some experts are predicting more soybeans and less corn will go in the ground during the 2017 planting season. An Ag Web Dot Com report says the extent of the acreage switch will be determined in part by crop demand for those commodities in the new year. Producers saw an unusually good planting window in 2016, but a return to more normal planting conditions is likely for 2017. “We’ll go back to more typical conditions and more prevent plant in line with a typical year,” said Pat Westhoff, Director of the Food and Ag Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri. Farmer liquidity will also determine how many corn acres make the switch to soybeans in 2017. “I expect more of a shift next year because we’re running out of liquidity,” said Ag Economist Gary Schnitkey at the University of Illinois. “The profitability of soybeans is projected higher and has lower costs, so this will move us toward soybeans.” Schnitkey also says lower wheat prices will likely lead some eastern Corn Belt producers to switch from wheat to soybeans next year. Talk of farmers cutting back on technology and traits next year probably doesn’t happen in soybeans because of increasing resistance in weeds like Waterhemp.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.