Corn futures rise on farming forecast

U.S. farmers will plant more soybean and wheat this year after prices reached records, while corn and cotton acres will drop, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

The forecasts sent corn futures to a record high on the Chicago Board of Trade, while soybean and wheat prices plunged.

A government survey showed growers will seed 74.793 million acres with soybeans, up 18 percent from last year, the USDA said Monday in a report. Spring wheat planting will jump 7.8 percent, as corn acreage drops 8.1 percent, the USDA said.

Increased soybean and wheat planting may help refill dwindling inventories, while declining corn output may squeeze supplies available for ethanol-makers, including Archer Daniels Midland Co. Prices for most farm commodities reached records this year on booming demand for food, fuel and animal feed.

"The acreage shift into soybeans and away from corn was larger than people expected," said Greg Grow, director of agribusiness for Archer Financial Services. "The markets sense we now need to raise corn prices at the expense of soybeans," to increase the incentives for farmers to plant corn this year, Grow said.