The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is projecting that over the coming weeks growers will plant 94 million acres of corn and 85 million acres of soybeans.

The outlook for the two primary spring US crop sowings came as the USDA begins its annual Ag Outlook Forum being held in Arlington, Virginia, with the current corn forecast a decrease from the 98.8 million acres sowed in 2025 but was in line with recent estimates from fertilizer industry participants.

Corn harvest is projected to result in 15.755 billion bushels with there being a stockpile of 1.837 billion bushels of corn at the end of the 2026-2027 marketing year.

Soybean planting estimates though are higher for this coming season with the 85 million acres projection a lift from the 81.2 million acres that US farmers grew last year.

Soybean harvest is projected to result in 4.450 billion bushels with stocks increasing to 355 million bushels.

For agricultural interests the upcoming year has a larger degree of uncertainty beyond the traditional challenges of weather and crop price direction. There is also global crop markets set to be heavily supplied by other countries like Brazil and there are higher inputs costs for farming essentials like fertilizer.

US farmers are also waiting on federal relief funding pledge last yar to offset losses with it estimated that these payments could represent a significant portion of farmers’ revenue this year.

The significant acreage potential also lifts the possibility that there could be record levels of fertilizer consumption, despite higher prices year on year, as growers are not inclined to limit nutrients as that reduces yield.

Some pre-plant fertilizer application is already underway in those states who have missed some of the recent weather impacts, with these inputs set to steadily increase over the next few weeks as weather turns more towards spring.

Beyond the initial application run there will also be high expectations for the secondary fertilizing later in the season.

Both crops have had some price direction swings over February and again closed mixed on Thursday with March corn down while the March soybean price was up a bit further.
Source: By Mark Milam, ICIS, https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2026/02/20/11181209/usda-expects-corn-plantings-to-be-lower-in-2026-at-94-million-acres-with-soybeans-higher-at-85-million/