Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Agriculture topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
NASS briefing: U.S. corn intentions surge while soybean acres fall; sunflower stocks hit record low
Summary
At a NASS briefing, presenters said March survey results show U.S. intended corn acreage rising to 95.3 million acres, soybean intentions falling to about 83.5 million acres, and sunflower March 1 stocks down roughly 51.5%—a record low; stocks data show mixed trends across commodities.
Lance Honig, chair of the Agricultural Statistics Board at the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), opened a March briefing on the agency's March farmer and grain‑stocks surveys and reminded listeners that Office of Management and Budget guidance bars public comment about the reports for 30 minutes after release. "These reports are considered principal federal economic indicator reports," Honig said.
Patrick Bole, chief of the NASS crops branch, presented the March 'A' prospective plantings and March 1 grain‑stocks estimates based on roughly 73,670 producer responses collected from late February through mid‑March and about 7,900 off‑farm elevator/storage surveys. "Planted acreage is expected to total 95.3 million acres," Bole said of corn, "that's up 5.2% or more than 4.7 million acres from last year." NASS described the corn estimate as near the high end of pre‑report industry forecasts and said all five top corn states reported increased intentions.
The agency said soybean planting intentions are expected to fall to about 83.5 million acres, down roughly 4.1% (about 3.56 million acres) from 2024; NASS noted that, despite the decline, 2025 soybean intentions would still be among the largest on record, and that New York and Ohio reported record‑high soybean intentions. Combined corn and soybean intentions were reported just under 179 million acres, a modest increase from 2024.
NASS also reported sizeable commodity‑specific shifts: cotton intentions are down about 11.8% (to roughly 9.87 million acres, the lowest since 2015, with Louisiana and New Mexico showing record‑low intentions), winter wheat and several spring wheat classes show regional declines, and a range of minor crops showed mixed changes (chickpeas and lentils up; dry peas and oats down; peanuts up).
On stocks, Bole said March 1 total wheat stocks were about 1.244 billion bushels (up 13.6% year‑over‑year), corn stocks just over 8.15 billion bushels (down about 2.4%), and soybean stocks about 1.91 billion bushels (up about 3.5%). Rice stocks were down modestly year‑over‑year but showed higher on‑farm and lower off‑farm balances. "All sunflower stocks are down 51.5% from last year and a record low for March," Bole said, noting 2024 sunflower production was the lowest since 1976.
NASS emphasized that March intentions are surveyed before planting and that a June follow‑up (the acreage revision) will reconcile intentions with acres actually planted. The agency also listed upcoming releases and outreach, including an April crop production report, additional commodity reports in mid‑month, and a "Stat Chat" session at 1:30 p.m. Eastern to take questions and share details.
The briefing materials and full published estimates are available on the NASS website; NASS said the official published estimates are the authoritative record in case of any discrepancy with the presentation.
