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Fewer planted acres could be a boon for ag economy

 

An ag economist says planting expectations could be good news for the farm economy.

“Smaller acres sort of gives us a running chance at maybe having reduced production and lower ending stocks.”

David Widmar with Agricultural Economic Insights tells Brownfield lower corn and soybeans acres hints at improving economics in other crops.  “From the big acreage crops we know there’s going to be more cotton and actually more acres planted of spring wheat.  Winter wheat is going to be unchanged.”

He says farmers might also transition fields to pasture, conservation lands or change double cropping plans this year.  “Yields and final production is still a long way from being known and there’s a lot of unknowns that could creep up.  This is sort of an early look at maybe a potential improvement to be seen in the next couple of months.”

Widmar says if the 2018 Farm Bill is able to increase conservation acres, like proposed in House Ag Committee’s bill, production acres could be reduced more longer-term, especially with higher yielding crops.

AUDIO: Interview with David Widmar