by Brent Gloy and David Widmar

With the release of the March 2016 prospective plantings report the USDA weighed in on what we saw as one of the top questions for 2016:  How many acres of corn and soybeans will U.S. producers plant in 2016?  Their answer: 93.6 million acres of corn, 82.2 million acres of soybeans, and 49.6 million acres of wheat.  These estimates were substantially different than those expected by the grain markets and left many people scratching their heads as to why there would be such a large shift toward corn acres.  (more…)