Trade war jitters may add some corn acres

Back for their eighth edition, the U.S. Crop Watch producers are off to their quickest-ever start on planting their corn and soybean fields. However, trade conflicts with top U.S. soybean and sorghum buyer China have a couple of farmers adding a bit more corn than originally planned. Crop Watch follows 11 corn and 11 soybean fields across nine U.S. states, including two each in Iowa and Illinois. This is the project’s eighth consecutive year, featuring the same producers and locations. In 2021, Crop Watch was expanded to 11 producers from eight previously. As of Thursday, nine of the 22 Crop Watch fields were planted, the most for the date since the 11-field format began. That includes five corn and four soybean fields. However, that pace may briefly stall out because some producers are waiting for topsoil to dry out after recent rains. The next batch of Crop Watch plantings is targeted for next week. LITTLE MORE CORN Relatively low soybean prices already have U.S. farmers ...