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Michigan Corn surprised at acreage reports

Michigan Corn says USDA’s acreage reports don’t add up.

Executive Director Jim Zook tells Brownfield planted corn, soybean and wheat acres were all higher which means farmers at some point switched crop rotations.  “When you add up the numbers, they are a little bit shocking when you look across all of the crop spectrums as to where are all of those acres coming from?”

He says the results of USDA reports come from farmers’ surveys and it is in the best interest of all farmers to report honestly.  “If we don’t have enough people reporting, it’s going to be hard to get good, valid data.”

USDA is expecting the second highest carryout in the past 11 years and the largest planted corn acreage in over 70 years. Zook says that combined with a majority of the Midwest corn condition at about 75 percent good to excellent will make for an interesting marketing year.

AUDIO: Interview with Jim Zook