USDA Lowers 2010 Corn Planting Forecast To 87.9 Million Acres

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday lowered its forecast for corn planting this year to 87.9 million acres. That's down from the 88.8 million acres in USDA's previous prediction, but still a 2% increase from 2009.

This year's crop has "the third-quickest planting pace on record, behind only 2004 and 2000, respectively," the USDA said.

The USDA, in its annual Acreage report, said corn planting got off to a quick start this year, but frost in parts of the Midwest did some damage in late April.

And later, the USDA said, "below-average temperatures and wet weather dominated much of the Midwest and portions of the Plains during the middle part of May, hampering the planting of the remaining acreage and threatening emerged plants."

Illinois and Kansas were each home to increases of 600,000 acres of corn planting this year--the largest increases over 2009 in the U.S. Farmers in Iowa, meanwhile planted 400,000 acres less of corn in 2010, which represents the largest decrease from last year.

Source: CME Group