United States. Department of Agriculture

“ Area for harvest of sugarcane for sugar and seed during the 2007 crop year is forecast at 891,700 acres, down 1 percent from 2006. Area for harvest in Louisiana is down 5,000 acres from last year and Florida growers expect to harvest 4,000 fewer acres than last year. In Louisiana, crop conditions for sugarcane have remained mostly fair to good, except in early April, when a late freeze occurred. For the week ending June 17, Louisiana's sugarcane crop condition was rated at 19 percent excellent, 45 percent good, 33 percent fair, and 3 percent poor. ”

“ The area expected for harvest as grain also increased from the previous forecast in many of the Soft Red growing States as producers have now fully evaluated the impact from the April freeze. Sizeable harvested acreage decreases are forecast in Oklahoma and Kansas due mainly to excessive moisture and disease pressure along with the April freeze damage. Winter wheat harvest is progressing well behind average due to cooler spring temperatures that delayed crop development and frequent rains in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas that have delayed harvest. ”

“ With the exception of New York, Pennsylvania, and the Southeast States, planted acreage decreased in all States across the country. Growers in Illinois and Iowa showed the largest decrease in soybean acreage from last year, down 1.75 million acres and 1.35 million acres, respectively. Large declines in soybean area occurred across the Corn Belt and Great Plains, with planted acreage also down more than one million acres from last year in Indiana, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Many farmers across the country shifted to planting more corn this year at the expense of soybeans. ”

“ Planting started in early March and was completed by mid May, ahead of normal. For the week ending June 17, over half of the crop was squaring, slightly ahead of normal.
Producers planted 87 percent of their upland acreage with varieties developed using biotechnology, up 4 percentage points from 2006. Stacked gene varieties, those containing both insect and herbicide resistance, accounted for the most acreage, at 42 percent, up 3 points from the previous year. Herbicide resistant varieties were planted on 28 percent of the acreage, up 2 points from 2006. ”

“ In New Jersey, thunderstorms and frequent rain during May reduced planted acres. In Virginia, growers have had ideal planting and growing conditions. California growers increased their acreage despite the lack of moisture from winter and spring rains. ”

“ Sampling errors cannot be applied directly to the acreage published in this report to determine confidence intervals since the official estimates represent a composite of information from more than a single source. The relative standard errors from the 2007 area frame survey for U.S. planted acres were: barley 8.5 percent, corn 1.0 percent, upland cotton 3.2 percent, sorghum 4.9 percent, soybeans 1.3 percent, winter wheat 1.9 percent, and other spring wheat 4.0 percent. ”

“ This means that chances are approximately 95 out of 100 that survey estimates will be within plus or minus 1.2 percent for all biotech varieties, 3.8 percent for insect resistant (Bt) varieties, 3.4 percent for herbicide resistant varieties, and 3.6 percent for stacked gene varieties. Variability for the 31 soybean States is approximately 0.3 percent for herbicide resistant varieties. ”