US Winter Wheat Area Seen Over 10 Percent Higher

Farm Futures magazine are forecasting that US farmers will "reclaim" most of last season's 13% decline in winter wheat plantings by increasing the area sown this year by more than 10% to 41.7 million acres.

They see spring wheat and durum area holding steady, which will give us a 2011 US all wheat area "close to the levels put in two years ago" at 58.3 million acres, they say.

Didn't prices fall out of bed two years ago when encouraged by a booming wheat market farmers the world over planted wheat in their own back yards? I do believe it did now you come to mention it, thanks for that I'd almost forgotten. But that couldn't possibly happen again this time round could it, not with Icelandic plantings likely to be down 0.5% - Ed.

An "improving price outlook" means that corn and soybean planted area will also increase in 2011, say Farm Futures.

Corn acres could increase by almost 2% in 2011, to 89.5 million, from the 87.9 million sown this year. That would be the second biggest crop put in since the end of World War Two, they say.

Not to be outdone, they also forecast the soybean acreage setting another record in 2011, with US growers expected ready to plant 79.6 million acres, the third record acreage in a row for soybeans.

First tentative forecasts coming out of Brazil are also calling for an increase in the soybean area there too, with production potentially topping 70 MMT for the first time in history.

That's a lot of production based almost entirely on the continued expansion of just one market - China. The soybean bulls had better hope that pretty soon there's a McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut on every Chinese street corner at this rate.