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Biggest acreage shift to soybeans in Eastern Corn Belt

An analyst says he expects the biggest acre shift towards soybeans to occur in the Eastern Corn Belt.

Mark Schultz is with Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis.

“Corn supplies (in) Ohio (and) Indiana have been relatively tight.  We think there will be a little bit more soybeans in that region.”

He tells Brownfield parts of the Western and Northern Corn Belt will likely see additional soybean acres as well.

“We’re expecting more soybeans in Kansas (and) probably get some into Nebraska.  We may see it work itself up into South Dakota and North Dakota, and that may come at the expense of wheat more than anything else.”

Northstar Commodity is estimating U.S. corn plantings between 90 and 91 million acres, down from 94 million last year.

Schultz says soybean projections are as high as 88 million, which would be more than 4 million acres above the record set in 2016.

USDA’s Prospective Planting Report comes out March 31^st.