USDA to review acreage earlier for some crops, including corn, soybeans and cotton

USDA says it will review harvested and planted acreage data for corn, cotton, peanuts, rice, sorghum, soybeans and sugarbeets in preparation for the September Crop Production report. If the review justifies any changes, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will publish updated planted and harvested acreage estimates in the Sept. 10 report.

Normal practice for NASS to review this data in September for cotton, peanuts and rice. The review typically takes place in October for corn, sorghum, soybeans and sugar beets. However, the data are sufficiently complete this year to consider adjustments in September, USDA says. In October, NASS will again review acreage or corn, sorghum, soybeans and sugar beets, as well as for canola, dry edible beans and sunflowers. Regarding the possibility of making this change permanent, Lance Honig, chief of crops branch at NASS, says USDA "will evaluate whether or not to make a change moving forward at a later time." 

The inclusion of the acreage review in the September Crop Production Report this year, if needed, gives the impression there is something in FSA’s initial data released in August to justify the earlier review. Our analysis of the initial FSA data suggested corn plantings could be increased around 1 million acres from the June estimate, which we incorporated into the Pro Farmer national corn crop estimate we released Aug. 20 after Crop Tour.