Planting intentions surveys in the mail

Producers have until Feb. 27 to respond

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is sending planting 2025 intentions surveys to American farmers.

Beginning Feb. 18, the USDA is mailing surveys to more than 6,000 farmers in Missouri and Illinois, another 6,000 producers in the northeastern U.S., and an additional 3,700 farmers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

“Each year, the agriculture industry anticipates USDA’s prospective plantings report, which provides initial survey-based estimates of U.S. farmers’ planting intentions for the year,” NASS reps said. March agricultural survey provides the data that underpin projections, making it one of the most important surveys we conduct each year.”

The surveys ask farmers to provide information on the crops they plan to plant in 2025, how many acres they intend to plant, and the amounts of grain and oilseeds they store on their farms.

Producers who don’t receive mailed questionnaires can respond online by Feb. 27.

Farmers who don’t respond by that date may be contacted for a phone interview.

The data from the planting intentions survey will be published on March 31.

The USDA provide early projections for the 2025 growing season in November 2024.

For corn, the USDA estimated planted acres would increase by 1.3 million from 2024 to 92 million.

Farmers are also expected to plant 2.1 million fewer acres of soybeans in 2025 compared to 2024, totaling about 85 million acres this year.

One crop organization has already surveyed members about planting intentions.

The National Cotton Council is estimating producers will plant 9.55 million acres in 2025, a 1.6 million acre decrease from last year.