Illinois Farmers Shift to More Soybeans this Year

Illinois farmers normally plant more corn acres than soybean acres. Not this year. The spike in the price of nitrogen fertilizers used on corn has made it cheaper to plant soybeans. Common practice in Illinois is to rotate crops, planting corn one year and soybeans the next. According to Marketwatch, prices for some types of fertilizer rose to a record $1,520 per ton. That’s a spike of 127%. The USDA predicts that four million acres of U.S. corn will be replaced with soybeans this spring. While it is too late for farmers to change all their corn acres to soybeans, the USDA says there is room to maneuver.