Counties of: Woodbury, Ida, Sac, Monona, Crawford, Harrison, Shelby
USDA released its March 31st Planting Intentions and Quarterly Grain Stocks report last week. Corn is anticipated on 92 million acres, which is up 4% from a year ago. However, 40 of 48 states are estimated to be unchanged in acreage. The largest gainer is expected to be North Dakota; however, they continue to be covered in snow with more blizzards hitting this week. South Dakota and Minnesota are also snow-covered and definitely not candidates for early planting.
Soybeans are expected on 87.5 million acres with the largest gainers being North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. We have a long way to go before planting would be considered late, but these acreage gains seem circumspect right now.
Corn stocks are down 7.4% from a year ago. Corn on the farm is only down 1% but corn in town is down 10%. Prices usually rise once the farmers are out of corn, so while this appears bullish, it may take a while to move prices much. Bean stocks were down 13% from a year ago. On-farm was little changed but off-farm was down by 21% from a year ago. Farmers remain bullish, hanging onto bushels.
Land values were basically steady in the first quarter. New highs were not posted but results came in right around expectations based on comparisons with earlier sales. Sale volume was high in the first quarter, the busiest first quarter in years in our database of sales.
Please click on the links on the right to view the past pdf’s of our Southwest Crop Conditions reports.
1705 N Lake Ave
Storm Lake, IA 50588
Real Estate Licensed in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota.
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