All-wheat harvested area in 2017 is forecast at 38.115 million acres, down 13% from 2016.

The USDA forecast the all-wheat harvested area in 2017 at 38.115 million acres, down 5.775 million acres, or 13%, from 43.89 million acres in 2016. This suggested an abandonment rate of 16.5% this year compared with 12.5% in 2016.    

The USDA estimated the area planted to spring wheat other than durum at 10.899 million acres compared with the March forecast based of producers’ intentions at 11.308 million acres. The area planted to other-spring wheat was 706,000 acres, or 6%, smaller than the 2016 planted area at 11.605 million acres. It was the smallest area planted to other-spring wheat since 1972. Hard red spring wheat planted area comprised 10.3 million acres of the 2017 other-spring wheat total.

In commentary accompanying the acreage data, the USDA said, “Planted area in North Dakota, the largest spring wheat-producing state, is estimated at 5.25 million acres, down 13% from last year.”

The USDA projected the other-spring wheat harvested area in 2017 at 10.497 million acres, down 806,000 acres, or 7%, from 11.303 million acres in 2016.

The USDA estimated the area planted to durum this year at 1.919 million acres compared with the March forecast at 2.004 million acres and down 493,000 acres, or 20%, from 2.412 million acres in 2016. The USDA forecast harvested area of durum in 2017 at 1.858 million acres, down 507,000 acres, or 21%, from 2.365 million last year.

The USDA raised its estimate of the area planted to winter wheat. The department said 32.839 million acres were planted to winter wheat for harvest this year, up 92,000 acres from the previous estimate but down 3.298 million acres, or 9%, from 36.137 million acres in 2016. The 2017 winter wheat area was the second smallest on record since records began in 1909.

Of the winter wheat area, about 23.8 million acres were hard red winter wheat, 5.61 million acres were soft red winter wheat and 3.41 million acres were white winter wheat.