American farmers hit by the U.S.-China trade battle are preparing to reshape the U.S. Farm Belt by planting more corn and less soybeans next year over a land mass potentially equal to the size of Connecticut, reports USAgNet.com.
U.S. farmers in 2018 planted more soybeans than corn for the first time in more than three decades. But Chinese tariffs on U.S. soybeans have wreaked havoc: U.S. exporters have sold less soybeans to China in the past seven weeks than in a single week last fall.
Many farmers and agricultural officials said final crop choices might not be made until just weeks or days before planting gets under way, partly because of uncertainty over tariffs.
The situation could pose challenges for farm retailers and grain traders charged with transporting crop supplies and handling a fresh flood of grain. But swinging more fields back toward corn could boost crop-seed sellers and fertilizer suppliers, analysts told USAgNet.com.
