Corn Planted Acreage Up Fractionally from 2003
Soybean Acreage Up 3 Percent
All Wheat Acreage Down 4 Percent
All Cotton Acreage Up 7 Percent

Corn planted area for all purposes is estimated at 79.0 million acres, up fractionally from both 2002 and 2003. Expected acreage is up from last year throughout much of the Corn Belt as growers are hoping to take advantage of higher corn prices. However, most States in the Southeast and southern Great Plains are intending to decrease their corn plantings as producers are switching to soybeans and cotton due to more favorable prices relative to corn.

Soybean growers intend to plant an estimated 75.4 million acres, up 3 percent from last year. If realized, this will be the largest planted area on record and a rebound from the three year decline in acreage.  Growers in all States, except South Dakota and Wisconsin, intend to plant more than or at least as many acres of soybeans as last year. Current high prices are encouraging many producers to plant more soybeans, with the largest acreage increases expected in North Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Minnesota.

All wheat planted area is expected to total 59.5 million acres in 2004, down 4 percent from 2003. Winter wheat planted area for the 2004 crop is 43.4 million acres, down 3 percent from 2003. Of the total, about 30.9 million acres are Hard Red Winter, 8.3 million acres are Soft Red Winter, and 4.2 million acres are White Winter. The 2004 other spring wheat planted acreage is estimated at 13.3 million, down 4 percent from last year. Of the total, about 12.7 million acres are Hard Red Spring wheat. Area planted to Durum wheat is intended to total 2.76 million acres, down 5 percent from a year ago.

All Cotton plantings for 2004 are expected to total 14.4 million acres, 7 percent above last year. Upland acreage is expected to total 14.2 million acres, also a 7 percent increase. All States are expecting more acreage than last year except for North Carolina and Mississippi. American-Pima cotton growers intend to increase their plantings to
226,600 acres, up 27 percent from 2003. The increase is primarily in California where producers are intending to plant 50,000 acres more than last year.

This report was approved on March 31, 2004.
Secretary of Agriculture
Ann M. Veneman
Agricultural Statistics Board
Chairperson
Rich Allen

Contents

Page

Crop Comments. . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . 28
Crop Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Information Contacts . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 34
Reliability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Weather Summary. . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . 26

Barley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Beans, Dry Edible. . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . 19
Canola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Corn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Biotechnology Varieties. . . . . . . . .  . . . . . 20
Cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . 15
Biotechnology Varieties. . . . . . . . .  . . . . . 21
Hay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Oats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Peanuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Sorghum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .5
Soybeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 13
Biotechnology Varieties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Sugarbeets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . 16
Sunflowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Sweet Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 19
Tobacco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Wheat, All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . .8
Durum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 10
Other Spring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Winter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

The complete report is PDF format is at http://www.usda.gov/nass/PUBS/TODAYRPT/pspl0304.pdf