American farmers will plant more soybean this year

Soybean acreage in the U.S. this year will exceed corn plantings for the first time in 35 years, according to a government survey, suggesting American farmers remain undeterred by possible Chinese trade sanctions, reports Bloomberg.

Soybeans will cover 89 million acres in 2018, while corn may be planted on 88 million acres, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday in a report in Washington.

Plantings for both will decline from a year ago, with USDA forecasts for each below the lowest prediction in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. The government's spring-wheat estimate topped all forecasts, with an expected 12.6 million acres, up 15 percent from last year.

Last year, U.S. farmers planted 90.2 million acres of corn and 90.1 million acres of soybeans. 

In a separate report released Thursday, the USDA pegged corn held in inventories as of March 1 at 8.89 billion bushels and soybeans at 2.11 billion bushels, both records for that date and above the average analyst forecasts.