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Eli Lustgarten, an analyst with Longbow Research, said the drop in corn acreage could be partly due to "uncertain economics in the ethanol market."
As more ethanol producers come online, he said, profits could be squeezed because of "real uncertainty with the high input price of corn and the inability to distribute ethanol."
The USDA expected U.S. farmers to sow a near-record 74.8 million acres of soybeans this spring. Prices and weather could be driving the rush into soybeans.
"We're also having a very wet, late spring. And wet springs tend to delay plantings and delayed plantings you tend to shift from corn to soybeans, Lustgarten said.
Matt Hartwigg, spokesman for Renewable Fuels Association, called the planned corn acreage "still a significant chunk of acres," up 10 percent from 2006 even though it is down from 2007.
He said the association expects ethanol production to rise to 9 billion gallons this year from 6.5 billion last year.
"There appears to be substantial supplies available."
Doud of the Cattlemen's Association noted that ranchers, unlike ethanol makers, do not enjoy subsidized access to corn.
"We're not anti-ethanol but what we don't like is the fact that the ethanol industry is not experiencing the vagaries of supply and demand in the market place. They have the government mandate and they have subsidies," he said.
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Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes