Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 3/31/10

A pair of USDA reports showed plenty of corn and soybeans on hand now and that farmers are expecting to plant more of both, sending corn and soybean prices sharply lower in morning trade on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Corn prices for May delivery fell about 8 cents to trade around $3.45 per bushel and soybean for May fell about 38 cents to about $9.35 per bushel in morning trade on the CBOT.

USDA's annual Prospective Plantings survey showed U.S. farmers intend to plant about 88.8 million acres of corn this spring, up 3 percent from both last year and 2008, though not quite as large a gain in acreage as market analysts were expecting.

USDA attributed the increased corn acres in part to reduced winter wheat acreage and expectations of improved net returns.

USDA reported soybean producers intend to plant 78.1 million acres in 2010, up less than
1 percent from last year and also short of analysts' average forecast according to a pre-report survey by Dow Jones. Still, if realized, this would be the largest area planted to soybeans on record.

USDA also issued its Grain Stocks report this morning, which showed corn stocks in all positions on March 1 totaled 7.69 billion bushels, up 11 percent from a year ago. Soybeans stored in all positions totaled 1.27 billion bushels, down 2 percent from March 1, 2009.

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