AMES, Iowa -- Iowa farmers will plant 1.25 million more acres of soybeans in 2008 and 1 million fewer acres of corn, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). USDA expects Iowa, along with Nebraska, to have the largest increases in soybean production nationwide.

Iowa State University Extension soybean agronomist Palle Pedersen agrees. “Farmers have realized when you are in a monoculture planting corn on corn it is high risk, and the yields aren’t always there.”

Nationally, USDA expects soybean acreage to be up 18 percent while corn acreage heads down 8 percent from 2007.

Pedersen said the high input costs and associated risk will get farmers to think twice when they are making their planting decisions. “Being in a rotation with soybeans is really going to help on the profitability of return. And of course, it also helps that soybeans can be sold at $12 to $13 per bushel.”

He added, “There’s still extremely strong demand for soy products and soy meal from both Asia and Europe. Soybean is a wonderful crop to rotate with corn.”

The USDA report, released March 31, noted that, “despite the decrease, corn acreage is expected to remain at historically high levels as the corn price outlook remains strong, due in part to the continued expansion in ethanol production.”

However, the spring weather may well be the final judge of how many acres of corn and soybeans Iowa farmers will plant in 2008, Pedersen said.

For more information, listen to an ISU Extension interview with Pedersen (time 13:31)

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