Prevent Plant – Historical Role

Prevent plant has averaged 5.6 million acres per year since 2007, the first year electronic data are available from USDA, FSA (US Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency) (see Figure 1 and Data Note 2).  Given the role of weather, it is not surprising that the range is large:  from 1.2 million acres in 2012 to 19.6 million acres in 2019.  In USDA’s March 2022 acreage report, US farmers planned to plant 248.7 million acres to corn, cotton (both types), rice, sorghum, soybeans and wheat.  These crops account for 99% of FSA prevent plant acres, with corn, wheat, and soybeans having individual shares of 44%, 24%, and 20%, respectively.