URBANDALE, Iowa - This morning, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its latest estimates on acreage and grain stocks. It says Iowa’s intended planted acres for soybeans are 9.4 million acres, which is up 10 percent from last season.  Nationwide, soybean acres are reported to be up 17 percent.

Harvest acres for Iowa soybeans are projected to be 8.95 million acres. The reduction from planted to harvested acres is likely the result of taking some of the recent flooding into consideration.

Curt Sindergard, president of the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) and a soybean farmer at Rolfe, was surprised at the report.

“The report seems to include the acres that have been replanted in ponds,” Sindergard said. “It’s common to see three and four acre patches of replanting, even in the better crop areas, but we can’t expect a full yield from those.”

USDA plans to resurvey and come out with another update in early August.

“We expect the acres numbers to be adjusted further with more detailed reporting,” Sindergard said. “In addition, yield per acre is still a big unknown and will impact supply greatly. While the current report gives acres planted, yield will be affected by the combination of late planting, flooding and cooler temperatures.”

With grain prices at all-time highs, farmers can expect see continued volatility in the markets until crops are in their reproductive stages and reports can give better estimates.

Overall, ISA leaders anticipate that prices will remain strong as the result of growing global demand, particularly from nations like China.