Corn, soybean acres up in state South Dakota

By Capital Journal staff
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009 - 12:44:04 am CDT

SIOUX FALLS — Acres of both corn and soybeans are up in South Dakota, mirroring national trends.

The federal Agriculture Department’s June acreage report released Tuesday pegs the South Dakota corn crop at 5 million acres, up 5 percent, and the soybean crop at nearly 4.4 million acres, up 250,000 acres, or 6 percent.

South Dakota is one of five states in which the estimated soybean area is up more than 200,000 acres over the year, along with North Dakota, Kansas, Mississippi and Missouri. USDA said tight supplies and high prices are driving an increase in soybean acres nationwide, with an expected record U.S. crop of 77.5 million acres.

Valley Springs farmer Kevin Scott, who grows both soybeans and corn east of Sioux Falls, said the increase in soybean acres in South Dakota likely is due to winter-killed winter wheat acres being seeded to the crop, and some farmers switching from corn to soybeans because of the higher cost of putting in corn.

“Up 6 percent doesn’t surprise me a lot,” he said of the expected state bean crop.

Scott, incoming chairman of the South Dakota Soybean Association, said he does not expect the bigger soybean crop nationally to push down prices.

“We had a big bean crop last year and our carryout (stocks) now is incredibly small,” he said. “It all depends on exports.”

Scott said some of the increase in corn acres in South Dakota likely came from other crops, such as sunflowers, that are seeing decreases.

Scott said some farmers are looking to plant corn because of the readily available market for it in South Dakota, especially with the state’s ethanol industry.

Based on June 1 conditions, USDA expects 1.6 million acres of winter wheat to be intended for harvest in South Dakota, down 15 percent from last year.

Planted acres of spring wheat in the state are pegged at 1.6 million acres, unchanged from a year ago.

Other South Dakota planting estimates:

— All sunflowers, 550,000 acres, down 8 percent;

— Oats, 190,000 acres, down 14 percent;

— Barley, 45,000 acres, down 29 percent;

— Flaxseed, 10,000 acres, up from 7,000 acres;

— All hay, 3.85 million acres, unchanged.

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