NASS releases June acreage and grain stocks: corn planted slightly lower, soybeans up, rice at lowest since 1972

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) on June 1 released its June acreage and grain stocks estimates, reporting a 2026 principal crops total of 309.6 million acres and mixed changes across major crops.

Anthony Pratt, associate deputy administrator for the NASS office of analysis and estimation, said planted corn acreage for 2026 is estimated at 95.3 million acres, "up just 5,000 acres from the March intentions, but down 3.5% or 3.45 million acres from what was planted last year." He said harvested acreage for grain is forecast at 87.4 million acres, down 4.2% from 2025. Pratt also noted that about 1.9 million corn acres were reported as left to be planted during data collection.

Pratt said soybean planted acreage is estimated at about 85.4 million acres, "up 8/10 of a percent or 665,000 acres from the March intentions, and up 5.1 percent or 4.15 million acres from the previous season," with harvested acreage forecast at 84.4 million. Combined corn and soybean planted area totaled 180.7 million acres, which NASS described as a record level and slightly above March intentions.

NASS reported a principal crops total of 309.6 million acres for 2026, a decline of 312,000 acres (0.1%) from the March Prospective Plantings report and 1.9 million acres (0.6%) from 2025, which the agency said represents the lowest total since 2019.

The agency summarized several notable crop changes: upland cotton planted area was estimated at 9.85 million acres (up 2.2% from March and 6.1% from 2025); winter wheat planted area was 31.5 million acres (down 2.7% from March, 4.9% from 2025), with harvested winter wheat area at 21.2 million acres, a record low for the U.S.; and rice planted area was reported at nearly 2.02 million acres, down 28.3% from 2025 and the lowest U.S. planted rice acreage since 1972.

On the stocks side, NASS reported June 1 all-wheat stocks at just over 920 million bushels, up 7.6% year-over-year, with on-farm stocks down 3.7% and off-farm stocks up 10.8. Corn stocks on June 1 were estimated at 5.29 billion bushels (up 14% from a year earlier), with on-farm stocks up 15.8% and off-farm up 11.9; NASS said the corn-stock estimate fell just below the range of market expectations. June 1 soybean stocks were estimated at 1.06 billion bushels (up 5.3% y/y), with on-farm stocks down 10.9% and off-farm stocks up 16.5. NASS also released rice rough stocks at 74.8 million hundredweight, up 7.3% from a year earlier.

Pratt described the two surveys underlying the estimates: the June Agricultural Survey (a farmer-reported survey with nearly 90,300 sampled operations; data collected May 28–June 19) and the All Farm Grain Stock Survey (roughly 7,800 commercial facilities; data collected May 29–June 17). He said NASS increased the June Ag Survey sample by about 22,500 records compared with 2025 to raise usable response counts and that NASS added a paragraph documenting 90% confidence intervals for the corn and soybean estimates based on 20 years of historical data.

Pratt and NASS noted that many state-level changes were highlighted in their maps and charts, including state record highs and lows for various crops. The briefing closed with a reminder of upcoming NASS releases in July (including crop production on July 10 and agricultural prices on July 31) and a NASS social media event scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

The estimates and full data tables are available on the NASS website; NASS staff also offered follow-up by phone or email and scheduled a public Stat Chat session to discuss the estimates.