Released days before the USDA’s latest estimates come out, the Kluis Commodity Advisors/Successful Farming 2024 Acreage Survey broadly projects American farmers planting fewer corn acres and more soybean acres than was previously estimated by USDA.
That combined total of corn, soybean, and wheat acres in 2024 is pegged at 224.3 million, compared to 227.8 million last year, according to the survey.
Corn
The Kluis/SF survey estimated farmers planted 88.5 million corn acres this year, compared to 94.6 million in 2023.
In USDA’s March Prospective Plantings report, the government agency estimated 2024 corn acres at 90 million. The March survey was a survey of what farmers intended to plant this spring. This Friday, June 28, USDA will release the results of its Acreage Survey, which asks farmers how many acres they actually planted.
The Kluis/SF survey results are 1.8 million acres below the average trade estimate going into Friday’s report.
Soybeans
The Kluis/SF survey pegged soybean acres at 88 million, 1.3 million acres more than the average trade estimate.
Last year farmers planted 83.6 million soybean acres. USDA’s March report pegged 2024 soybean acres at 86.5 million.
Wheat
For wheat, the Kluis/SF survey pegged the American farmer planting 47.8 million acres this year, down from 49.6 million a year ago but up from USDA’s March estimate of 47.5.
This is in line with the average trade estimate ahead of Friday’s USDA report.
Thoughts from Kluis
This survey result, therefore, according to Al Kluis, managing director of Kluis Commodity Advisors, may offer some indication of what USDA is going to announce later this week. He says the results are bullish for corn, bearish for soybeans, and neutral for wheat.
“What I find most interesting is our survey showed farmers would have 39% more prevent plant acres than last year,” says Kluis.
“That would suggest, then, that the USDA projection from the March Prospective Plantings report of nearly 4 million fewer planted acres this year compared to last year, for all principal crops combined, may be spot on. Yea, we won’t actually know how many total prevent plant acres we have in 2024 until that number is reported by the Farm Service Agency in August.”