Crop Insurance Today Second Quarter 2020 - 22

Fig. 15

2011 and 2019 Prevented Planted Acres by 10 Major Commodities
2011
8.6 Million

2019
18.7 Million

10 Yr. Olympic Avg.
4.4 Million

12,000,000
10,000,000
8,000,000
6,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000
0

BARLEY
CORN

2011
2019

10 Yr.
Olympic Avg

UPLAND
OATS
RICE
COTTON

GRAIN
SOYBEANS
SORGHUM

SUGAR
BEETS

WHEAT

445,432
25,988

2,322,637 108984.82
9,623,746 389053.57

37,572
21,976

252,895
646,857

162,381
230,746

1,448,780
5,353,346

2,517
2,100

3,819,662
2,460,197

61,115

1,490,604

8,705

214,986

92,808

925,731

2,628

1,408,113

176,248

Source: NCIS Data Analysis

additional rainfall in excess of 10 inches for
the month in parts of the Corn Belt, Delta and
Great Plains, resulted in a continuation of the record-slow planting pace for corn and soybeans.
By June 2, only 67 percent of the corn crop and
39 percent of the soybean crop had been planted, breaking the slowest planting record set in
1995. Plantings at that time were 29 percent and
40 percent below the five-year average for corn
and soybeans, respectively. After continued delays, farmers were finally able to complete corn
planting by the end of June, while soybean planting continued into early July, ending what was a
record slow pace for the season for both crops.
The spring wheat crop also suffered from
weather related planting delays in April. Spring
snowstorms slowed planting to a standstill and
by May 5, only 22 percent of crop had been seeded, 27 percent behind the five-year average, with
all states reporting delays. However, farmers were
able to recover over the course of the month and
by June 2, 93 percent of the spring wheat crop
had been planted, closing the gap to only three
percent behind the five-year average.
In contrast to the situation in corn, soybeans,
and spring wheat plantings, 11 percent of the nation's cotton crop had been planted by April 28,
in line with the five-year average. Farmers were
able to continue to progress with field operations
and, by June 2, 71 percent of the cotton crop had
been planted, a pace only one percent behind the
five-year average. Despite some delays in early
June, cotton producers were able to complete
planting by the end of the month, finishing within two percent of the five-year average pace.
22

SECONDQUARTER2020

PREVENTED PLANTING ACREAGE
The record levels of precipitation and flooding during the winter and early spring of 2019 resulted in an abnormal increase in acreage where
crops were unable to be planted within normal
time horizons. The problem was particularly acute in the case of corn and soybeans (Figure 15). The previous highest level of prevented
plantings occurred in 2011 when 8.6 million
acres of major field crops (wheat, corn, cotton,
soybeans, and others) were affected. The Olympic average for prevented planting acreage over
the previous 10-year period was 4.4 million acres.
In 2019, 18.7 million acres of those same crops
were recorded as prevented planting, with corn
Fig. 16

and soybeans accounting for 58 percent and 22
percent of the total, respectively. For those individual crops, corn prevented planting in 2019
was reported to be 9.6 million, vastly exceeding
the previous record for corn prevented planting
of 2.9 million acres in 2013; for soybeans, 5.4 million acres were reported as preventing planting
in 2019, greater than the previous record of 2.1
million acres in 2015.
The prevented planting had an impact across
commodities, but conditions were such that
the effects were more severe in some areas than
others (Figure 16). Based on the NCIS analysis
of RMA data, the largest amount of prevented
planting acreage occurred in South Dakota with

2019 Prevented Planted Acres by State
Total 19,177,601
7,050
61,428

925,103

3,582
28,870
1,714
714

67,048

20,372

4,123

434,986

945,531
219,646

1,317,579

42,548

1,437,692
406

129,497
235,044

1,250,527
425,714

750,663 74,982

39,148
299,182

162,722
42,391

1,196
0

Source: NCIS Data Analysis

7,772
88
159

228,666

834,624
1,443,716 864,966

808,403

113

541,368

3,921,950
395,454

0
57,223

357
1,127,007

109
5,227
2,911
8,031

Crop Insurance Today Second Quarter 2020

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