Smaller U.S. Bean Area Drop
PANAMA - Apr 1/16 - SNS -- Farmers in the United States intend to reduce dry edible bean plantings this year, but probably by much less than indicated by the USDA.
In releasing this year's intentions, the USDA did not report on Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. During the previous five years those states accounted for an average 65,180 acres of beans each season.
Removing those states from last year's estimates indicates land in dry beans is down 8% instead of the 12%. If the proportion of decline is the same in those missing states, land in dry edible beans is probably down 141,000 acres at 1.619 million.
If farmers stick with their intentions and yields are at their recent five year average, production in the United States would be expected to drop 7.6% to 1.26 million metric tons (MT).
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