USDA Records Largest-Ever Combined Corn and Soybean Plantings

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported on Wednesday that farmers planted a record amount of corn and soybeans in the 2026/27 season, with combined planted acreage reaching 183.5 million acres.

This marks the largest-ever combined corn and soybean planted acreage, surpassing the previous record by over 3 million acres.

The USDA boosted corn acres by 1.4 million to 96.7 million, while increasing production to 16.013 billion bushels despite a yield drop of 2.3 bushels per acre.

Soybean planted acres were also increased by 1.4 million to 86.8 million, resulting in a projected record production of 4.519 billion bushels.

The Wall Street Journal's Kirk Maltais reported that the USDA projects a national corn yield for the 2026/27 season at 180.7 bushels an acre, down from 183 bushels per acre in July.