May 25, 2022
2022 U.S. Soybean Planting Slowest in the Northwestern Corn Belt
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
The 2022 U.S. soybean planting is slowest in the northwestern Corn Belt, but there is still time to get the soybeans planted because the final planting date for crop insurance coverage is June 10th for all of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota and June 15th for Iowa. Therefore, I would say it is too early to be contemplating potential prevent plant acreage for soybeans.
As of last Sunday, soybean planting in North Dakota was 7% (47% average) and it was 32% in Minnesota (68% average). In the March Prospective Planting Report, the USDA anticipated that North Dakota would plant 7,000,000 acres of soybeans, South Dakota would plant 5,700,000 acres, and Minnesota would plant 8,000,000 acres. There is a greater chance that the soybean acreage in those three states might increase due to switching from corn than they would decrease due to potential prevent plant.
There may also be some additional double crop soybean acres after the soft red winter wheat is harvested in the southern Midwest and the mid-South and maybe even after the hard red winter wheat in the southern Plains, but that might be problematic given the soil moisture situation. Currently, I am estimating the 2022 U.S. soybean acreage at 91.0 million acres, but it is possible that number could increase 1-2 million acres before the planting is complete.
The soybean yield was left unchanged this week at 51.5 bu/ac. Therefore, if farmers plant 91.0 million acres, then the harvested acreage would be approximately 90.1 million acres (99% of planted). If the soybean yield is 51.5 bu/ac, then the soybean production would be 4.64 billion bushels.