USDA to update status of corn plantings
USDA to update status of corn plantings as growers hope to make up ground during soggy spring
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Exactly how much the soggy spring has slowed farmers' efforts to plant their corn will become a bit clearer.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday was to issue its latest update on spring plantings.
A week ago, the USDA reported that just 12 percent of the nation's cornfields have been planted. That's about a quarter of what was planted by this date over the previous five years, and it marks the slowest start in decades in some states.
In Illinois, only 7 percent of the Illinois corn crop was sown.
Yet USDA estimates that while the wet start is expected to reduce the amount each acre produces this year, farmers are planting so much corn that they're still likely to bring in a record amount.
