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Prospective Plantings Report Highlights
(based on March 2018 report)

2018 Soybean Planted Area
(000) acres and change from 2017

Soybean planted area for 2018 is expected to total 89.0 million acres, down 1 percent from 2017. Planted acreage intentions are down or unchanged in 20 of the 31 estimating states compared with last year.

2018 Soybean Planted Area - (000) acrea and change from previous year.
  • Red = acres planted decrease
  • Blue = acres planted increase
  • Grey = no change in acres planted
  • White = not estimated
  • Top number = acres planted
  • Bottom number = acres planted increase or decrease from 2017
2018 corn planted area - acres and change from previous year.
  • Red = acres planted decrease
  • Blue = acres planted increase
  • Grey = no change in acres planted
  • Top number = acres planted
  • Bottom number = acres planted increase or decrease from 2017

2018 Corn Planted Area
(000) acres and change from 2017

Corn planted area for all purposes in 2018 is expected to total 88.0 million acres, down 2 percent or 2.14 million acres from last year. Iowa leads the country with area to be planted to corn at 13.3 million acres. Compared with 2017, planted acreage is expected to be down or unchanged in 33 of the 48 estimating states.

2018 Winter Wheat Planted Area
(000) acres and change from 2017

The 2018 winter wheat planted area, at 32.7 million acres, is up slightly from 2017. Of this total, 23.2 million acres are hard red winter wheat, 5.85 million acres are soft red winter wheat, and 3.64 million acres are white winter wheat.

2018 Winter Wheat Planted Area - (000) acres and change from previous year.
  • Red = acres planted decrease
  • Blue = acres planted increase
  • Grey = no change in acres planted
  • White = not estimated
  • Top number = acres planted
  • Bottom number = acres planted increase or decrease from 2017
2018 All Cotton Planted Area - (000) acres and change from previous year.
  • Red = acres planted decrease
  • Blue = acres planted increase
  • White = not estimated
  • Top number = acres planted
  • Bottom number = acres planted increase or decrease from 2017

2018 All Cotton Planted Area
acres (000) and change from 2017

All cotton planted area for 2018 is expected to total 13.5 million acres, 7 percent more than in 2017. Upland cotton area is estimated at 13.2 million acres, up 7 percent from 2017. American pima cotton area is estimated at 262,000 acres, up 4 percent.

Principal Crop Planted Acres (000)
2018 change from 2017

U.S. producers expect to plant 318 million acres to the 21 principal crops this season, 1.16 million fewer acres than were planted in 2017. Corn acreage is expected to decline the most (down 2.14 million acres) while other spring wheat acreage is expected to show the largest increase, up 1.62 million acres from last season’s actual plantings.

Principal Crop Planted Acres (000) - 2018 Change From 2017.
Acreage Intentions vs. Actual Planted Acres - Usual Planting Progress

Acreage Intentions vs. Actual Planted Acres
Usual Planting Progress

This graph shows the usual planting progress between the March Agricultural Survey, which is used for the Prospective Plantings report, and the June Agricultural Survey, which is used for the Acreage report. By the time farmers and ranchers have the June Agricultural Survey in hand, they are typically nearly done planting corn and soybeans.


You can explore the full March 29, 2018, Prospective Plantings report. View some of the data on a data visualization available from your desktop, or access all data on the online searchable database Quick Stats.

Last Modified: 11/19/2018