Corn, soybeans, and wheat were down; cotton was up for the week. Continue reading at Tennessee Market Highlights.

2019 USDA March Prospective Plantings and Grain Stocks Reports

On Friday March 29, the USDA released the Prospective Plantings and March Grain Stocks
reports. Corn, soybean, and wheat futures closed down for the day; cotton closed up.

Prospective Plantings

Principle Crop Area Planted – Includes: corn, sorghum, oats, barley, rye, winter wheat, Durum wheat, other spring wheat, rice, soybeans, peanuts, sunflower, cotton, dry edible beans, chickpeas, potatoes, sugarbeets, canola, and proso millet. Projected at 315.352 million acres, down 4.226 million acres compared to 2018. A substantial decline reflective of weak profit margins for principle row crops. Reduced planted acreage of principle crops will transition to lower acre a regional alternatives, pasture and forage, or be left fallow. Continue reading at Comments on Prospective Plantings Report.

Released: March 29, 2019

March 1 Planting Intentions Indicate Record Low Burley Tobacco Harvested Acreage

Farmers in Tennessee intend to plant 850,000 acres of corn, 110,000 acres more than 2018. U.S. corn growers intend to plant 92.8 million acres for all purposes in 2019, down 4 from last year and 3 percent from 2017.

Soybean acreage in Tennessee was expected to total 1.50 million acres, down 200,000 acres from the previous year. U.S. soybean planted area for 2019 is estimated at 84.6 million acres, down 5 percent from last year.

Upland cotton acreage to be planted in Tennessee is forecast at 360,000, unchanged from 2018. The U.S. total upland cotton acreage is estimated at 13.5 million acres, down 2 percent from the previous year. Continue reading at MarchPP19_TN.

In this podcast, UT Extension Corn and Soybean Specialist Angela McClure covers some of the top corn planting considerations for 2019, including weather, soil temperatures, planter settings and nitrogen recommendations. Listen.

Corn, cotton, and wheat were up; soybeans were down for the week.

Trade uncertainty and weather remain the dominant influence in corn, soy-bean, wheat, and cotton markets. Currently, we are just over six months into the corn and soybean marketing years, seven months into the cotton mar-keting year, and nine months into the wheat marketing year. Given the mas-sive trade disruptions (China, USMCA, and the E.U.) that affected agricultural in 2018 and have persisted in 2019, it will not be surprising to many that outstanding export sales and accumulated export shipments are behind the pace required to meet USDA marketing year projections. Continue reading at Tennessee Market Highlights.

Tennessee corn yields for 2018 averaged 168 bushels per acre. Franklin County with 19,300 acres harvested had the highest county yield at 196.9 bushels per acre followed closely by White County at 196.8 bushels per acre. A breakdown on yields by county can be found at Corn18_TN. Statewide,  soybean yields averaged 46 bushels per acre. Cannon County led the way at 60.4 bushels per acre with Obion County next at 49.6 bushels per acre.  Additional data on county yields can be found at SOY18_TN.