More than 19.4 million acres of farmland nationwide went unplanted this season, according to an Aug. 12 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency.
This marks the most prevented plant acres reported since FSA began releasing the report in 2007 and 17.49 million acres more than reported at this time in 2018.
Of those prevented plant acres, more than 73 percent were in 12 Midwestern states, where heavy rainfall and flooding this year has prevented many producers from planting mostly corn, soybeans and wheat, according to an FSA news release.
According to the FSA report, rice was planted on about 2.44 million acres in 12 states this year this season. In addition, more than 747,500 acres of historic rice ground were categorized as “prevented planting,” with another 45,300 acres reported as failed rice plantings.
The FSA acreage figures differ from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Aug. 12 crop report, which estimated about 2.7 million acres of rice will be harvested in six states.
Download the full FSA report from USDA.