More corn in the Hoosier State in 2020

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — When Indiana farmers take to the fields later this spring, it appears they have plans to plant a lot more corn this year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued Tuesday its 2020 Prospective Plantings report, an early-season estimate of how many acres of major crops will be planted across the U.S. this year.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service, an agency of USDA, is projecting Indiana farmers intend to plant 5.8 million acres of corn in 2020, a 16% increase over last year’s 5 million acres.

NASS is also estimating Hoosier farmers will plant 5.4 million acres of soybeans, unchanged from last year.

Nationally, USDA expects farmers will plant 97 million acres of corn, an increase of 8% or about 7.2 million acres.

Soybean acreage is expected to hit 83.5 million acres, up 10% from 2019.

The USDA says the prospective plantings report provides the first official, survey-based estimates of U.S. farmers’ 2020 planting intentions. The acreage estimates are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of approximately 80,000 farm operators.