Rising input costs could support an acreage shift in 2023

Rising input costs could support an acreage shift in 2023

An ag economist says rising input costs have some farmers are already contemplating an acreage shift in 2023.

Jim Mintert tells Brownfield one out of five farmers surveyed in the latest Purdue University/CME Ag Economy barometer plan on changing up their crop mix, “Of farmers who planted winter wheat last fall, one out of four – 24%, said that they plan to increase their winter wheat acreage in the upcoming year. If they didn’t plant winter wheat, 14% of them said that they planned to plant some winter wheat this fall, so that’s one of the changes that I think people are looking at.”

He says farmers also said they were looking at adding winter wheat, “Drilling down, into the folks who said they planned to make a change, almost of half of them said the biggest change that they’ll make is devote a higher percentage of their crop acreage to soybeans.”

Mintert says input prices were the top concern for farmers looking ahead to 2023 and more than 60% expect inputs to go up again in the coming year.