Nation's farmers plant largest corn crop since 1936

Despite concerns about rainfall limiting the size of this year's corn crop, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday said farmers planted an estimated 97.4 million acres for all purposes.

That's up slightly from last year.

The crop represents the highest planted acreage in the United States since 1937 when an estimated 102 million acres were cultivated.

As a result, growers expect to harvest 89.1 million acres for grain - up 2 percent from 2012.

Iowa corn growers planted an estimated 14 million acres of corn, compared with 14.2 million acres estimated in late March.

The USDA said soybean producers planted an estimated record 77.7 million acres, up 1 percent from last year. If realized, the area for harvest at 76.9 million acres, up 1 percent from 2012, will be a record high.

Iowa soybean farmers are expected to plant 9.5 million acres, an increase from 9.4 million projected in late March.

In a separate report, the USDA estimated that corn stocks stored on and off the farm totaled 2.76 billion bushels on June 1. That's down 12 percent from June 1 last year.

Of the total, 1.26 billion bushels of corn are stored on farms, down 15 percent from a year earlier. Off-farm stocks, at 1.5  billion bushels, are down 10 percent from a year ago.

Off-farm stocks are the amount of stocks held by non-producers including supplies at mills, elevators, terminals, and processors.

Soybeans stored in all positions on and off the farm on June 1 totaled 435 million bushels, down 35 percent from the same date last year.

On farm stocks totaled 171 million bushels, down 4 percent from a year ago. Off-farm stocks, at 263 million bushels, are down 46 percent from a year ago.

Traders' forecasts for U.S. corn stockpiles have been missing official estimates by an amount equal to China's annual imports, driving swings in futures markets to exchange-imposed limits, according to Bloomberg News, which has been studying the USDA data.

Reserves are getting tougher to predict because of an expansion of storage capacity on farms that isn't tracked by government inspectors and increased use of alternatives to corn in animal feed.

The widening gaps spurred the USDA in September to commission a one-year review of its methodology.