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Outlook chairman ‘could argue both ways for soybean planted acreage’

USDA’s Outlook Board Chairman Seth Meyer says he could argue both ways whether to have changed soybean planted acreage, but after analysis, ‘no-change’ carried the day.

“You could say, ‘well, you’ve got 3 million less acres of corn, those become beans,’ or are they prevent plant? And so which way does it work,” said Meyer, in an interview provided by the USDA. “Is the spillover from corn into beans bigger than the bean prevent-plant, or vice-versa?”

Meyer’s observation is that the places where soybean planting is the most behind also have a June 20^th date for the last day of crop insurance.

“Ok, so there is still a period of time to continue to plant soybeans,” said Meyer.

Soybean area and yield were kept the same because it’s still too early to forecast yields, said Meyer.

Soybean acreage was kept at 84.6 million, a 4.6 million acre drop from last season, and yield is down two bushels at 49.5 an acre. USDA added 15 cents to the soybean price projection, but it’s still 25 cents less than last year.