U.S. farmers are likely to increase the amount of acres planted to soybeans again this year, but the changes might not be as large as predicted, especially in Iowa, according to Chad Hart, Iowa State University crop markets specialist.

As Hart travels Iowa and the Midwest on his annual winter speaking tour, he admits he’s "hearing a lot of chatter about beans."

But future market prices as of mid-January were offering more attractive returns for corn compared to soybeans, although both are slightly below the cost of production assuming trend-line yields, he said.

"The corn market is fighting back," Hart said. "It’s a pretty tight horse race between those two crops."

The anticipation of fewer corn...