U.S. Farmers to Plant 15 Percent More Corn

The U.S. Agriculture Department Friday raised its predictions for spring corn planting to 90.5 million acres, due in part to demand for fuel ethanol.

The projected spring plantings are up 15 percent from last year’s 78.3 million acres, the USDA said in its Prospective Plantings report, and is a 3.5 million acre increase over its February estimate of 87 million acres.

The latest report is based on a survey of 86,000 farmers taken during the first two weeks of March.

If its latest report is accurate, this planting year would be the strongest since 1944, when 95.5 million acres were planted, the department said.

About 20 percent of last year’s crop will be used for ethanol in the market year that ends Aug. 31, the department added. The ethanol boom has pushed corn prices to near-record levels.

Soybean acres are expected to fall 11 percent to 67.14 million, an 11-year low.

The United States is the biggest producer and exporter of both crops, with a corn crop valued at $33.8 billion in 2006 and soybeans at $19.7 billion, the department said.

Corn futures fell 20 cents, or 5 percent, in late-morning trading on the Chicago Board of Trade. Soybeans fell 5.2 cents, or 0.66 percent.