This report contains the expected plantings and last year’s harvest for principal crops and tobacco presented on a state basis. Principal crops are as follows: corn, all wheat, winter wheat, durum wheat, other spring wheat, oats, barley, flaxseed, cotton, rice, all sorghum, sweet potatoes, dry edible beans, soybeans, sunflower, peanuts, sugarbeets, canola, and proso millet.

This report provides the first survey-based look at plantings for the coming season's summer crops, a key component in determining production for the year. The data is based on surveys collected from growers during the first two weeks of March. This report is a preliminary estimate and is subject to revision in the June Acreage report. The USDA will use this data in their initial monthly Supply/Demand (WASDE) projections for the coming year's production.

Analysts consider the Prospective Plantings estimates as the first hard data for plantings for the coming year. These numbers will be used to determine production when the USDA presents its first supply/demand projections for the upcoming crop in their May Supply/Demand (WASDE) report.