U.S. cotton farmers are planning to sow 12.2 million acres this year, up 21 percent from last year, driven by expectations of higher prices in 2017, USDA said today in a report based on a survey of growers. The estimate is also up from the 11.5 million planted acres the department predicted at its annual Outlook Forum in late February.

 

Projections for most other major crops, including corn, soybeans and wheat, hewed closely to the February estimates.

 

The estimate for corn plantings, for example, is 90 million acres, the same as predicted in February. That would be down 4 percent, or about 4 million acres, from last year. Compared with 2016, planted acreage for corn, the nation’s biggest crop, is expected to be down or unchanged in 38 of the 48 estimating states, according to the report, prepared by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

 

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