Planting is now underway in much of the United States. As we start to see progress being made, we will start to get a much clearer indication of what actual acreages may be. In the Ag Outlook Forum in February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pegged planted acres at 95 million for corn and 85 million for soybeans. At the end of March, the USDA released surveyed acreage estimates of 97 million for corn and 83.5 million for soybeans. 

Now that farmers are actually in the fields, we will see how close these projections were and what they could mean for balance sheets. 

This is also when we start to see more attention on U.S. weather forecasts. For the most part, the majority of the Corn Belt is in good shape heading into the planting season. There are areas of interest, though, mainly in fringe regions. 

The most talked about areas remain the Upper Plains and far eastern Corn Belt, where...