According to a report issued by the USDA, American farmers will harvest nearly 9 percent fewer acres of corn this year than last year, in part because of Midwest flooding which has damaged a portion of the crop.  Farmers planted 87.3 million acres of corn this year, down from last year’s 93.6 million acres.  This is a loss of about 7%.  Despite the reductions, the total number of planted acres is still the second highest since 1946, behind last year.

Planted acres decreased in the 10 major corn producing states – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin – in part because of high fertilizer prices, favorable prices for other crops and a return to normal crop rotation, the USDA said.

Illinois saw the largest decline, where farmers planted 12.3 million acres down from the record high of 13.2 million planted last year. Indiana decreased 800,000 acres and Minnesota, 600,000 acres. Iowa is the largest corn producing state in the nation with 13.7 million planted acres.