US to harvest record 2012 corn crop

U.S. corn farmers are expected to harvest a record corn crop of 13.916 billion bushels, 6 percent larger than 2009's record and based on the second-largest plantings since World War II, according to the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is predicting even higher numbers, 14.27 billion bushels on 94 million acres of corn planted, after below-normal yields in 2010 and 2011. The institute is estimating 2012/2013 end stocks of 1.346 billion bushels, while the USDA is estimating 1.616 billion bushels. Both the institute and the USDA expect plantings of the eight major crops to increase by roughly 5 million acres, 2 percent, in 2012 — the largest total since 1998, according to USDA data:
	USDA	FAPRI
Wheat	58	58.1
Corn	94	93.48
Sorghum	6	5.47
Barley	3.2	3
Oats	2.5	3.02
Soybeans	75	75.14
Rice	2.8	3.15
Cotton	13.2	12.36
Plantings of eight major U.S. crops (in millions of acres)