Illinois acreage shift toward soybeans would be first in nearly 40 years

By Daniel Grant, FarmWeek

Illinois appears well positioned to maintain its recent run as the top soybean producing state in the nation.

While soybean plantings fell more than 2 million acres short of expectations in USDA's June 30 acreage report nationwide, the Ag Department raised soybean plantings by 200,000 acres in Illinois compared to the March estimate.

The current projections place Illinois plantings at 11.2 million acres of soybeans, up 600,000 from last year when it produced 672.6 million bushels – the most of any state in the nation. USDA estimates Illinois farmers planted 10.7 milli...