US farmers to plant more corn, less soy in 2025, USDA says

Adds crop production figures, trade expectations, quote

By Julie Ingwersen and Leah Douglas

ARLINGTON, Virginia, Feb 27 (Reuters) - U.S. farmers will plant more acres of corn and less of soybeans in 2025 than they did a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Thursday.

The USDA forecast corn seedings of 94.0 million acres, up from 90.6 million in 2024, and soybean seedings of 84.0 million acres, down from 87.1 million last year. The department expects wheat plantings of 47.0 million acres, up from 46.1 million in 2024.

"Among the three main crops, corn area is projected to increase the most, with favorable prices relative to competing crops such as soybeans, cotton, and sorghum," the USDA said in a report released at the start of its annual two-day outlook forum.

Global supplies of corn tightened in the 2024/25 marketing year, helping to lift prices for the feed grain. The United States is the world's biggest corn exporter and the second-largest soybean supplier after Brazil.

The government's projected increase in U.S. corn plantings topped the average estimate in a Reuters analyst poll of 93.6 million acres, while the USDA's soybean acreage number fell below the average analyst estimate of 84.4 million acres.

Prices for soybeans have been pressured by large supplies from South America, particularly Brazil, the government said, a factor that should limit U.S. seedings of the oilseed.

Assuming normal weather, the USDA projected a record-large U.S. 2025 corn crop of 15.585 billion bushels and a soybean harvest of 4.370 billion bushels, which would be the fourth-largest in history.

When demand from exporters, biofuel makers and livestock feedmakers is accounted for, the U.S. will have 1.965 billion bushels of corn left at the end of the 2025/26 marketing year on August 31, 2026, the USDA projected, up from 1.540 billion bushels a year earlier.

Soybean stocks at the end of 2025/26 were projected to fall to 320 million bushels, from 380 million bushels at the end of 2024/25.

The USDA projected 2025/26 soybean exports at 1.865 billion bushels, up 40 million bushels from 2024/25. However, the USDA cautioned that the U.S. share of global soybean exports would remain below 30%, compared to 40% a decade ago, reflecting competition from South American suppliers.

U.S. wheat inventories were projected to rise to 826 million bushels by the end of the 2025/26 marketing year, from 794 million a year earlier, despite an expected drop in production.

The USDA projected wheat exports for 2025/26 at 850 million bushels, unchanged from the current marketing year but up from a 52-year low set in 2023/24, when high U.S. prices curbed world demand for U.S. wheat. Competition from other global wheat suppliers, including Russia, is expected to persist in 2025/26.

"We are going to continue to have some export challenges," USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer said in a speech on Thursday.