LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the Prospective Plantings report today, showing an increase in corn, soybean and wheat acreage for 2021.
“It looks like farmers are optimistic that they can take advantage of strong commodity prices, and plan to add grain and oilseed acreage this year,” said David Knopf, director of the NASS Eastern Mountain Regional Office in Kentucky. “Weather, and other factors can sometimes change plans, but this is what farmers reported in the survey conducted earlier this month.” In June, growers will again be surveyed to measure actual planted acres.
Farmers in Kentucky intend to plant 1.55 million acres of corn, 60,000 higher than 2020. U.S. corn growers intend to plant 91.1 million acres for all purposes in 2021, up slightly from last year and 2 percent higher than 2019.
Soybean acreage in Kentucky was expected to total 1.95 million acres, up 100,000 acres from the previous year. U.S. soybean planted area for 2021 is estimated at 87.6 million acres, up 5 percent from last year.
Burley tobacco growers in Kentucky intend to set 36,000 acres for harvest, down 1,000 acres from 2020. For the burley producing states, growers intend to set 40,850 acres, 6 percent below last year.
Producers intend to set 9,000 acres of dark-fired tobacco in Kentucky, up 700 acres from the previous year. Acreage set to dark-air tobacco was estimated at 6,100 acres, unchanged from 2020.
Winter wheat seeded by Kentucky farmers totaled 530,000 acres, up 20,000 acres from previous year. Seeded acreage for the nation was 33.1 million acres, up 9 percent from 2020.
Farmers in the state intend to harvest 2.05 million acres of all hay, down 145,000 from 2020. U.S. farmers intend on harvesting 51.7 million acres of hay in 2021, down 1 percent from last year.
— USDA NASS Kentucky Field Office
For more Kentucky news, click here.